Green Fire
by caputdraconis14
Summary: Teddy and Victoire rekindle a relationship that left her horribly wounded. Teddy battles with his decisions and his job as an auror, and all of the choices he has made. Rated M for good reason in many later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

The waves crashed at the bottoms of the rocks beneath her, salty spray cascading up and licking her sun-kissed toes. Her pale blonde hair whirled around her face. She sucked in the air, breathing deeply, and letting it out. It smelled good, fresh, like the sun and the sea and the sweat that pooled at the nape of her neck. The cigarette pinched between her fingers was whole, not lit. It just remained stuck between her first and second fingers.

"Vic!" Louis' voice called across the open air. "Vic come on! We're going to Nana's house! Get your arse off the rocks, lazy! Mum's waiting."

Vic looked over her shoulder at her younger brother jumping up and down in the door to the back of the house. She stuck the cigarette into her bra and stood up, brushing the sand off the back of her white shorts. She crossed the sandy beach grass, which was dry and stiff, her bare feet immune to the poking and prodding of the rocks.

"What are you doing out zere?" her mother demanded when she walked through the back door.

"Sitting," Vic replied, finding her shoes in the closet. Fleur sighed.

"Thank you," she said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, Victoire. Your father and sister are waiting."

The three of them, Fleur, Victoire and Louis joined Bill and Dominique Weasley in the parlor where the fireplace was. Of the three children, Louis and Dom looked most like their father—red hair, Weasley looks, freckles, and such. Vic looked like her mother, with the white-blonde silver Veela hair, and the French looks.

Vic was the oldest, just out of Hogwarts a month or so ago. Louis just finished his third year, and Dom wasn't starting until the fall.

"Ready all?" Bill wondered, looking around at them. Vic looked at her siblings.

"I'll go first," she said. She needed ample time to disappear when she got there. Shoving past her siblings, she snatched a pinch of flu powder, stepped into the fire place and dropped it, shouting "The Burrow." The heat of the green flame whisked around her, showing her glimpses of different fireplaces between Shell Cottage and her grandparents' house.

She emerged gracefully into the Burrow kitchen, her feet stepping out onto Nana Molly's rug. She tried to keep all of her soot to the hearth, but immediately she was set upon by her grandmother and her thousands of aunts and uncles and cousins. Only her Grandpa and her Uncle Harry had the decency to hang back. Everyone knew that Vic was claustrophobic. But they didn't really remember that.

Nana Molly took to her with a brush to get the soot off of her, and Vic only freed herself from the pulsing mob of relatives when Fleur stepped daintily from the hearth. Vic ducked to the side, sliding as quickly as she could out of the crowded room.

"Victoire!" her grandpa said, catching her arm.

"Hi, Papa," she said. She gave him a tight hug and then turned to head away again.

"And where are you going, Vic?" he wondered, catching her arm.

"Away," I said.  
"If you're trying to hide I would go the other direction," he recommended. "I think you'll find what you're trying to hide from in there.'  
She blanched. "Don't tell anyone? I'll show up for dinner. Don't worry."

"All right," he said. "If I catch you smoking Vic, I will tell your father."

"I quit," Vic assured him.

"Good to hear," he said, patting her shoulder. She ducked through the kitchen, and disappeared out the back door, into the yard. She traipsed past all of the gnomes and the ripe garden. She settled beneath a tree, pulling her cigarette out of her bra. She ran the fag under her nose, breathing in the tobacco scent happily.

She had a life ahead of her and she knew that. She was lined up for a keeping position for the Holyhead Harpies. Exciting as that was, and no matter how much Quidditch was her life, she wasn't all that happy. She knew that was wrong of her, perhaps, and that she should be grateful, but it really made no difference to her. She was a bitch for it, she knew, but she couldn't help herself, truly.

She heard loud laughter from the house and closed her eyes. Perhaps she was just being an angsty teenager. She was eighteen and beautiful, perhaps. In Hogwarts, she could've had any guy she ever wanted. And she knew that. And it bothered her. No matter the over dilution of her Veela blood, it still ran strong through her, gave her abilities she didn't want to recognize. And yet, she couldn't help but use them once or twice. She could go the other way too, terrifying them, and she, perhaps, enjoyed that even more.

But she never used them on him, and that was good. No matter what, neither side was ever utilized on him.

She leaned her head back, wishing more than anything to light the unlit cig in her hand. She wanted to smoke it, breathe it in and let the nicotine calm her down. But no. She would get her arse kicked by her father and grandfather together. Not that she wasn't very good with her wand.

Noise from the house caused Vic to look up quickly. The tables were being moved out by all of her uncles. She looked over carefully, hesitant. Amidst all of the red hair, and then the jet black that was Harry, there was a single chocolate brown head, floppy hair on the tallest person there. She blushed and looked away.

"Dinner!" Nana yelled loudly, calling Victoire away. She stood up from her comfy position, taking a deep breath. She was going to be calm, confident, cool, collected, careful. Most of all, she was going to make him feel like he was the stupidest guy ever to roam this earth. Yes. That was the plan. Make him feel stupid.

Teddy sat down at the table, Ginny on his left, shooting furtive glances to him. James sat on his right, looking somewhat conspiratorial, looking expectantly to the other side of the table. He looked up, and there she was, walking across the lawn.

Her hair was flying in kind of curly, tangles, swirling around her face. Her eyes glimmered with their same old bright green fire. The color of his at the moment, actually. The color of his a lot of the time, actually, just because of her. She was wearing her comfortable muggle clothes, white shorts and a purple tank top, all of it showing off her legs, and her chest, and the pale skin on her neck and shoulders. She always did this to him. She purposefully made herself look more sexy than was actually necessary.

"You reappeared," Ginny said, smiling brightly at Vic. Vic smiled back, sitting down in her chair and then instantly letting her face fall completely.

"Yes I did," she murmured.

"So practices have to be starting soon," Ginny said. "Avery Lawson played seeker when I was on the team, you know."

"You've told me,' Vic said, smiling.

"Wait, what?" Teddy said, interrupting.

"While you've been roaming about the world, Vic here has earned herself a spot with the Holyhead Harpies. You are sitting in the presence of their new keeper," Harry said, sitting down on the other side of Vic.

"Seriously?" Teddy said, smiling. "That's great, Vic."

"Thanks," Vic murmured, looking down at her plate. She was quiet—unnaturally so. Her hair fell down in front of her shoulders. Ginny's forehead pulled together and she met eyes with Harry, both of them concerned.

"Making us all proud," Harry said, putting an arm around Vic's shoulders.

"Thanks," she said again, clearing her throat a little.

"Oh here comes Mum, Hermione and Audrey with the food," Ginny said, distracting everyone. Teddy kept his eyes trained on Vic, as she watched her plate. She drew out her wand, pale, long, sort of like her. With it, she began to tap the edge of the table. I knew her look like that. She fidgeted with her wand when all she wanted was to leave the place where she was. She wanted to disappear.

Her wand tapping increased, fast, like the tick of a watch, being spun around, the hands flying faster through the hours. She closed her fire eyes, tapped her wand once more, aggressively, and the cup in front of her changed abruptly. It went from a simple glass from the Weasley cupboard, to a fancy Goblet. She opened her eyes, smiled, and took a hearty sip. He narrowed his eyes at her. Victoire Weasley always had her quirks.

She sighed heftily and closed her eyes again and leaned back in contentment. Harry and Ginny had noticed nothing, and nor had James. Perhaps it was because Teddy was always much more aware of Vic than he'd like to admit.

"Ted, change for us!" Lily commanded from down the table. Teddy turned away from Vic to look at his youngest "cousins."

"What do you want me to do?" he wondered, barely thinking about it as he changed his hair from chocolate to hot pink.

"Your mum used to prefer that color," Ginny pointed out, laughing a little.

"I've been told," he said, laughing a little and letting the hair lighten until it was candy floss and blonde, curling tightly into exaggerated ringlets. He pushed his nose out until it was long and crooked and then let the hair go white before turning it dark gray.

"I can't believe you can do that so quickly," Harry said. "It shocks me completely. Most times it takes a little bit more concentration."

Teddy turned his hair back to untidy and chocolate brown, falling a little longer in front of his eyes, longer than it had been at the beginning of the night.

"It's not hard," Teddy said. "I don't know… I find it very easy. Perhaps transformations are just in my blood…"

"They are," Ron pointed out from down the table as he loaded pot roast onto his plate.

Teddy laughed. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Victoire taking a hefty sip out of her goblet. She waved her wand at it again, smiling proudly. She was more talented than most people he knew, smarter too. He wondered what she was putting in her glass.

"it's so nice to have everyone back here again," Molly said from the other end of the table, standing up and smiling hugely. "We're a big family and it's often hard to get everyone together. But we did it."

Teddy looked down the table: Bill and Fleur, with Dom, Vic and Louis; Charley; Ron and Hermione with Rose and Hugo; Percy and Audrey with Lucy and little Molly; George and Angelina with Fred and Roxie; and then Harry and Ginny with Lily, Albus and James. And then there was Teddy. He didn't have an ounce of Weasley blood in him… and yet he felt like he belonged here too. They always welcomed him, let him come in, let him have his home here, if he ever needed it. They loved him, and he loved all of them. They were his family, his closest friends.

He looked across at Vic as she loaded generous helpings of her grandmother's food onto her plate.

"James! Put that wand away or I will shove it up your nose!" Ginny yelled cutting across him. "You're only in your second year!"

"I'm going to be a third year!" James protested. "Besides, Mum, the ministry can't tell it's me. They can't tell who does the magic. It could be anyone of age here, any of you, Teddy, Vic, Uncle Percy, Papa…"

"James, do as your mother tells you or I'll shove your wand and mine up your nose," Harry snapped from across the table.

Having been distracted, Teddy turned back around to look at Vic again. She caught his gaze, green eyes meeting green eyes. They held the exchange for a moment, until she picked up her fork and looked away, leaving him to look only at the top of her head.


	2. Chapter 2

Victoire looked up from the dinner table. Everyone was starting to get up, waving their wands to help clear up the mess. She stood, vanished her goblet, and walked away from the table, absolutely silence.

"Vic! You're spending the night, right Vic?" Lily said, grabbing her hand eagerly.

"Yes," Vic said. "We're camping too…"

"Yay!" Lily cheered. "We're playing Quidditch in the morning."

"Sounds fun," Vic said, putting a smile on her face that she prayed didn't look like a grimace.

Lily darted away and scurried off after her older cousins and brothers. She knocked Fred over in her rush and he then proceeded to get the others to gang up on her and start the tickling.

Vic yawned and started in the opposite direction, not in the mood for cousinly bonding. She didn't need to get tackled.

"Teddy!" Lily called. "Teddy save me!"

Vic jerked her head over her shoulder. Teddy had been walking toward her, looking very debonair in his self-created new look. He used to prefer darker hair, emulating Harry. And he usually chose Harry's shade of intense green, not Vic's shade—they were totally different. That was how he looked the last time she saw him, his hair kind of longish, in his eyes, which were, at that moment, blue green, not green, not like anyone's. His nose had been longer, his face more childish. He was scrawnier then too. Now he looked like he was twenty, with his bulk and thinner face.

"Oh no!" he said. "I'll save you, Lils!" He ran quickly into the throng of Weasley children. Vic headed quickly away. She didn't want him to catch her. She hurried into the house and rounded the corner, heading up the stairs quickly. She just wanted to get out of her. Spin herself free.

Now that she wasn't at school, and he wasn't away, there were no more excuses. They just weren't meant to be together.

She flopped onto the bed that used to belong to her aunt Ginny, but was in fact now a guest room. She snuggled into the pillow that smelled like the Burrow—outdoors and homecooked meals, and Nana's choice of clothes detergent.

Drunk, definitely. She'd been guzzling the firewhiskey she drew from the cupboard back home for the longest time during dinner. It was better than water, and Uncle Harry and Aunt Gin would never yell at her for it. After all, she was of age. It was starting to get to her head though, clouding her eyes, fuzzing up her head. She wrapped the sheet around herself tightly, pressing her palms into her eyes to make them see nothing but absolute black.

She wasn't there long when the door swung open. She peeled an eye open. In all his glory, before her, there was Teddy, arms crossed, almost looking like a stern parent.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Go away," she said.

"Vic," he said. "Are you drunk?"

"No," she lied, rolling onto her stomach and closing her eyes again.

He sat down on the bed next to her, causing the old mattress to sink in his direction. She pulled her legs away from him, toward the other side of the bed.

"Right…" he said. "Vic… are you okay?"

"Just go away!" she said. "I said it before. Just leave me alone, Teddy, I don't want to talk to you, all right?"

He sighed heavily, and she felt his hand press into her back, starting to rub her back gently.

"Get away!" she said. "Don't touch me, Teddy!"  
She coiled away from him, shrinking from his touch. Springing away, she ended up curled up tightly in the fetal position on top of the sheets in the opposite corner from where he was still sitting. She opened her eyes again, seeing their color reflected in his as he looked at her, concerned.

"What's wrong?" he wondered, looking as if he was going to approach her again. but he didn't. He sat patiently, stretching out nothing but a concerned hand that hovered in the air, fingers outstretched.

"Nothing's wrong!" she barked. "I just don't want to be around you anymore, Teddy.'

He looked hurt at that, which was, perhaps, a little understandable. She and Teddy had been best friends since a very young age. She was the oldest of the Weasley cousins, the only one he could associate with comfortably at family gatherings. So that was why they always get along. She'd been gullable in the beginning, and he got them both into a lot of trouble.

It was her third year when the interest started. She knew that he had been a little hesitant in the beginning. A fifth year and a third year was a bit of a jump and he had more on his mind than she did. He used to mutter to her for hours when he would stroke her hair and sit with her by the fire in the common room, that Bill was going to kill him one day, string him up, gut him.

They let everyone know in her fourth year, when they got trapped under mistletoe at the Burrow. He just took her in his arms and started to kiss her—in front of everyone. And he didn't let her go from that point forth.

At the end of his seventh year, he knew he wanted to be an Auror. He went into the program with enthusiasm. And Victoire focused on her education. And they drifted, somewhat, but always ran into each other.

And then, for some reason, on her seventeenth birthday, he told he had to away for a while, with no promises about when he would return, why he was going, or what would happen to them when he came back. As far as she knew his dream hadn't changed. But there was something that scared her. She didn't quite know what. But she let him leave, with a hearty kiss—and perhaps a lot more of herself than she had ever intended to give before she was an adult… but she did it anyway. And now she was broken.

Teddy looked at her. She was curled protectively in front of herself, her hand in front of her mouth. She looked as if something horrible would happen if she revealed her lips, as if she would vomit, or say something she didn't want to say, make a noise she didn't want to make. Her eyes were glazed over with a fine sheen, perhaps drink induced, or perhaps sad.

"Victoire…" he said, pulling himself onto the bed she was occupying. He slid across the sheets, closer to her, and she flattened herself against the headboard, refusing to let him near her. He froze again, sighing.

"Please…" she said, shaking her head.

"Something's wrong," he determined. "I can tell that, I know that, Vic."

"What gave you the first clue?" she demanded, dropping her hand completely from in front of her face and shooting him a look. He cowered. Vic was almost scary when she was angry, and he didn't like it when she was angry at him. He wished he could change it.

"Just let me…" he whispered, sliding closer to her. She removed herself completely from the bed and went to stand by the wall.

"Teddy," she said. "Stop it. All right? Stop!"

"I'm not going to hurt you Vic," he promised, not sure what she really meant.

"Too late!" she growled, spinning away from him and trying to get to the door first. He apparated the ten feet, getting there before her and blocking her way.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. "What the hell are you doing, just stop, all right? Why can't you just stop, Teddy, leave me alone, for Christ's sake."

"I want to talk to you!" he said, his volume rising too. "Just let me talk to you, Victoire, please!"

"What is there to even talk about, really?" she said. "I know everything that happened, because it happened to _me _Teddy. So leave me alone, let me be. I don't want anything from you—I don't even want an apology!"

He caught her in his arms and she started to writhe kicking at him.

"Let me go!" she screamed, her volume increasing. He silenced her with a kiss, desperate. She kneed him in the crotch and bit his lip aggressively.

"Leave me alone!" she yowled. "Don't touch me again! You… you… arsehole! You fucking, fucking arsehole. Get the hell away from me!"

"No!" he said, catching her in his arms again, and possibly risking his life by doing so. She clawed viciously at him, but her nails were bitten down, which meant they left little more than light lines across the skin of his neck.

"Stop it!" she screamed.

Suddenly the door to the room swung open. Bill Weasley, still very devil-may-care in appearance, stood there looking menacing and quite angry. Teddy dropped his hands instantly, snapping them to his side.

"Get away from her," Bill barked at him, anger flashing in his eyes. "Get away from my daughter, Lupin. Don't touch her ever again. I don't want you anywhere near her, you hear me? I don't care what the rest of the family thinks of you. If I catch you within ten feet of her, unless absolutely necessary, I will, without a second thought, curse you into absolute oblivion. Do you hear me?"

Teddy nodded dully, walking out of the room. Bill barely moved out of his way.

"Are you all right?" Teddy heard him ask Vic asked he headed back toward the stairs.

"I'm fine," she said, sounding anything but.

He clomped down the stairs, letting his image reflect his mood. His hair grew dull, much less lustrous, and his eyes muted to lifeless brown. He knew the basic shape of his face was the same, which left him recognizable.

He clumped into the kitchen.

"It sounded like you were having a good time up there, Teddy," Charlie joked, not at all aware of the situation.

Teddy glared at him, and Charlie's smile faltered. The younger man walked out into the yard to get in the tent he was sharing with the Potters.

Harry was sitting in the backyard with Ginny, Ron and Hermione. He looked up as Teddy walked by, concern instantly flashing across his features. He rose as Teddy huffed past, following after him.

"Are you all right, Ted?" he wondered, matching the stride of the metamorphmagus.

Teddy turned to look at him. "I'm fine. Really, Harry. Don't worry about me."

Harry Potter shook his head. "Tell me the truth, kid."

Harry had always been Teddy's only father figure. Teddy looked up to him, emulated him and wished to model his entire life around him. Harry was brave, and talented, and intelligent. He was a great person and a great father. He was a great person in general.

"It's just Vic," Teddy said, shaking his head.

"Ah…" Harry said simply. "I probably could've guessed that. Come on Ted, let's take a bit of a walk. There are so many prying ears around here, you have no idea.'

"Oh I have every idea," Teddy said, starting to walk in synch with his godfather.

"Victoire was devastated when you left," Harry said simply, crossing his arms. "it took a while to set in, at least, I mean, I think she just expected that you would still be there for holidays, that you would write to her—and I can see why she expected the second, I really can. You left her waiting, and Vic isn't one of those girls that understands that or who can deal with that. I'm not saying she is stupid or weak—she is neither. But she was counting on one thing—you. And there was nothing from you. It scared her, terrified her, and left her down. She's been depressed since she first realized that by a while, you really meant a while. She started to be afraid that you wouldn't come home. Bill got worried, took her to some healers.

"We never thought she would be the one, that she could let a man destroy her life like this… but she did. And now, I'm sorry to say, she is not your fan, Teddy. And Bill absolutely hates you- you see, everyone thought Vic would be happy to find out her dreams with the Harpies were coming true. But when she didn't even smile at the offer… Bill lost it. He told me he was going to find you and kill you, make you come crawling him and apologize, marry her if that was what it took, no matter what your life was like. And yet… she told him not to bother. That she didn't want to make you do anything, and that she didn't want you back if you didn't want to be back. And that was that."

Teddy stared at him for a moment. And then he kicked the nearest tree. Harry just sort of watching him take out his feelings on nature, standing in silence while Teddy wished he could hex his own self into oblivion.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Vic was curled up in her sleeping back on the lawn in the backyard. The entire family was still sleeping around her in their tents, snoozing away the very early morning. She shimmied gently out of her sleeping bag, still in the shorts and cami of the night before. With a flick of her wand, the bag rolled up quickly. She shook the dew from her hair and stalked gently in the direction of the Weasley broom shed. It was filled with the brooms of all of her cousins—the ones that were old enough, at least. She picked James' which was generally the nicest of all of them. Her broom was safe at home, a nicer model than every one of the others, pristine and perfect. She didn't want to risk its safety in the presence of all of her cousins.

She swung her leg gently over the stick, settling naturally. She was more at home on a broomstick than on the ground, where she was shockingly uncoordinated in terms of movement. She pushed off from the lawn, taking off abruptly into the air. The whoosh of the cool morning blowing past her filled her quickly with adrenalin.

And she felt better up there too. She didn't need to think about the earth when it meant nothing to her. She didn't get tired of flying, could do it every day, if she so chose. In fact, many times she'd considered it—taking off one day and starting to fly, never looking back. She imagined, months ago, that if she did it, she might find him. Someday the world would play the good guy, fates would force them together, and they would end up together in one place again. She'd be walking down a street in India, and just bump into her familiar Teddy.

But she never did take off. Something kept her grounded, stuck in the mud. Something kept her waiting with absolutely no release from the repercussions of the worst birthday present in her entire life—the one that had been entwined with the best.

She flew over the tops of the burrow, looking down at the tents that dotted the ground, they were Muggle-looking, but inside, they were all huge, he knew. The one in the middle, the red one, belonged to the Potters. It held Ginny and Harry in its depths, as well as James, Lily, Albus, and the other pseudo-Potter, Teddy.

Was it natural for her to want to crawl into that tent, find Teddy's sleeping bag—distinguishable by what would certainly be a mop of hair in some shocking color, as it always went vibrant in his dreams—and then to crawl into his sleeping bag, kiss him, shag him until both of their minds went black with bliss?

Was that natural?

She wanted desperately to hate him for what he'd done, and some part of her certainly did. Feeling his hand on her back made her cringe, terrified. All she wanted was to never feel the pain again, and his hand brought back a flash of memories that tore through her heart like an angry beast. And yet, she also felt so much warmth thudding through her, causing her heart to pick up its pace rapidly, made her shudder as he touched the space between her shoulder blades. She could remember the feeling of his lips kissing between the bones. Pain and lust, pain and lust.

Last night, her father had spoken to her like she was a wounded child with a scraped knee again. She hated to think that she scared him, but knew she did just the same. He was careful with her, treading lightly and maintaining the thought that she was quite fragile. He had been like that since she started the spiral down.

Obviously, he was angry with Teddy. Of course he was. No one wanted to see their daughter plummeted into a pit of despair like that. It terrified Bill to the point of overprotectiveness and constant worry. When Teddy came near her, her father nearly hexed him. She had seen the way, last night, when she sat down nearly across from Teddy at the table, her father's hand twitched toward his wand.

Bill thought Teddy was bad news at this point. In a moment of irrationality, he had assumed that Teddy had been out to hurt Vic—physically hurt her. She'd never seen her father so close to hurting someone as he had been at that moment. Needless to say, he would not give any sort of a blessing if she chose to rediscover any repressed feelings for Teddy Remus Lupin.

She hovered in midair, looking out over the land. From this angle, she could see the house of Xenophilius Lovegood, where he lived next door to his daughter and her husband in their equally ostentatious and moderately hideous house. Built just for them, Vic knew.

Movement below caused her to look down. Emerging from the Potter's tent was a man who was growing upwards rapidly, his hair fading from a vibrant electric blue to a comfortable honey color, which he held for a moment, before changing it quickly to chocolate brown, where he appeared to be most comfortable.

She kept very silent, knowing he would probably realize that she was gone. Everyone knew Vic didn't sleep in a tent. She was too fond of the outdoors and being under the stars. He would search the skies for her quickly, if he knew her at all. If he could remember that was where she truly belonged.

Over his shoulder he had his bag. He looked at the watch on his wrist, given to him by the Potters on his seventeenth birthday. Looking around, he seemed to visibly heave a sigh. He was leaving again. She wondered if this was another journey of his. Or if, maybe, he'd settled down in London, in a flat of his own. Perhaps.

He looked at the watch again. Impatient. Then he looked around once more. Then he looked up.

Teddy caught sight of her hovering in the air, looking down at him. She was up there, of course, because she was Vic, and where else would she be? The sky was her home. He supposed she would even enjoy being a bird more than a human, if that was allowed. Perhaps she'd considered being an animagus. He could see her fitting well with that.

He stared up at her for a moment. He wanted to leave. That had been the plan. He'd almost left early the night before, but Nana Molly had pleaded with him to stay, begged and begged, and he honestly couldn't refuse the woman who was practically his very own grandmother. But this morning, he needed to avoid Bill, if possible. He was in no mood to tolerate daggers being shot at the back of his head, or to his very face, all evening long. He anticipated himself snapping eventually, and that would just be worse. Even as an auror—fully certified, despite what the family supposed—he was afraid to match the older, more aggressive man in a duel.

Teddy had flown through auror school. It had sucked up his entire life, which ultimately, he felt, had been the poision for him and Vic. But he had wanted to get it over with in the year, so he could finish, do what he had to do, and then come back for her, when she was out of school, and finally ready to start life with him.

Now he saw the choices had been fatal. He wasn't sure if he would change them if he could though. He didn't imagine so, actually. As horrible as that sounded. He would do them in a different order maybe, a different manner. He would be more careful about it, more careful with her.

He had just been so sure about her, so sure about them. And that had made him careless. She had been his, and he was set on that. He never thought that his disappearance would hurt her so badly. That had never been the plan. But she had never seemed breakable to him. Vic was indestructible. Or so he had thought.

His acute eyes could see the still wounded expression on her face. She did not look remotely happy. And that killed him. He wondered if he could apparate from midair if he needed to, if Bill came out… He threw his bag over his shoulder and headed toward the broom shed. She did not move, he saw, even though she knew what he was doing. He was on Al's broom before she even realized so.

He was up next to her in the air in a manner of seconds, and she just sort of stared at him, her lips mashed into a hard, morose line.

"Are you all right?" he wondered.

"No," she said, doing a loop-the-loop through the air and ended up in the exact same position.

"Okay," he said.

"Are you all right?" she asked him, not turning head from where she was staring off in the direction of the Lovegood and Scamander houses.

"No," he replied simply, looking at her. He wasn't within five feet of her. Bill couldn't kill him.

"Oh," she said quietly, her voice barely carrying to him.

"What is wrong with you?" he wondered.

"Just a lot of shit," she replied. "What about you?"

"A lot of shit," he echoed, running a hand through his hair.

"Why did you change your appearance?" she wondered.

"Because I am not Harry Potter," he said simply. "I may wish to be like him, but I am not him. And therefore I shouldn't try to look like him. Besides, isn't this look a lot better, don't you think? More handsome?"

Vic shrugged. She clearly had nothing to say on that subject.

"I can always change back, if you like," he offered.

"No," she said. "You can do whatever _you _like, Teddy. No one is in charge of you, you know that."

"But I like your input," he said. "You always had the best input, Vic."

She sighed. "Stop it, please."

"Are you going to scream at me again, Vic? I need warning so I can get out of here before your father takes me out."

"I'm not going to scream if you don't make me angry,' she informed him.

"Fair enough," he allowed, shrugging .

"Don't change your hair or anything," she whispered, running her fingers through her own hair, which fell in light waves over her shoulders.

"Can do," he promised, trying to meet her gaze.

"I'm so…" she trailed off, unsure.

"Unsure?" he offered.

She nodded at him, the green fire of her eyes dulled for some reason. "Yes. I guess you're still good at finishing my sentences, then."

"I think we've always been on a similar brainwave," he said.

"can you tell what I'm thinking right now?' she wondered. He beamed at her, his face lighting up. She was playing their old game. They used to think they were so in synch they could read each other's mind. She used to curl up with him on the couch in his bed and they would jokingly play the game.

"I think you're thinking you still know me," he whispered.

"I'll always know you," she said, looking toward the ground.

"And I will always know you," he replied, steering his broom closer to her.

"But…" she said.

"But nothing," he said gently, reaching out. She finally let him touch her and he sighed again, as his fingers cupped around her cheek. She let out a soft whimper.

"Victoire…' he said.

"I can't…" she said, her voice sounding terrified.

"Don't be afraid of me," he said gently, begging her a little.

"I'm not afraid of you," she replied. "I'm afraid of us."

He nodded. "I understand that, love."

She turned to look at him her head moving, meeting with his hand.

"I love you," he told her.

And then she burst into tears.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

He put his arms around her, pressing his lips into the side of her neck. One false move, she knew, and the two of them would tumble down to the ground. But he was comforting her. He had no idea why she was crying, and yet he was comforting her.

"I love you," he whispered again. The hair on the back of her neck stood up.

"Teddy… " she said.

"Please, Vic," he begged.

"Stop…" she said, completely halfhearted at this point.

"Only if you want me to," he said, shaking his head gently.

"I don't," she admitted, shaking her head too. He looked around.

"Stop crying, love, please," he said, stroking away the tears. "Come on let's, get down, shall we?"

She nodded and they headed toward the ground, putting the Potter boys' brooms back in the shed. Before he turned around, she had her arms around him.

"I don't want this," she told him, turning him around, and pushing him against the wall. She kissed him delicately on the lips, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You don't?" he said.

"No," she replied, shaking her head. He pulled her closer to him his hands clutching at her back, falling lower with every second she spent sucking on his lower lip.

"Okay," he said, lifting her up so that her legs wrapped around his middle. They continued to kiss each other.

Suddenly the door of the broom shed banged open, and four of Vic's close cousins, plus her little brother, were all standing there, staring at them.

"Oh my god," Roxie said simply.

Vic gasped and jumped down from the provocative position she was in. Teddy turned bright red, and she could see him actually having to focus to get the blush out of his cheeks. Vic wished she had the ability to do that.

She grabbed Teddy's hand and pulled him out of the shed, through the cousins and the rest of the population. She looked at him, unsure, freezing in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" he wondered, touching her cheeks with the back of his hand.

"I don't know…" she said. "I don't know if I can… Teddy… I'm too… afraid."

"We'll take it slow," he said. "But we have to tell them before the kids get to it."

She nodded, pushing her hands through her hair aggressively.

What was she doing? Oh yes, being stupid. That was the answer. Because she knew that this was a huge risk. Rolling her lips in an out, she felt wrong, like she was screwing something up. She was making a mistake… somehow.

He looked at her, careful. "Don't worry, Vic. We'll take it step by step."

He started to walk in the direction of the tents, but she grabbed him by the wrist, stopping him.

"Wait," she said simply.

"Why?"

"I just need to know," she said. 'When you leave from here, where are you going to go?"

"The Potters," he said. "And then I'm looking for my own place in London…"

She nodded. "All right. "just making sure you aren't taking off on me anytime soon."

She was going to be careful. She couldn't fall right back into the pattern, because it just meant she would get hurt again. But there was too much in her that felt for Teddy to ignore. But she didn't want to get hurt. But he held her heart.

Oh she was torn. How could she possibly forgive so quickly?

Love. That was the only answer. Because when she looked at him, she couldn't help but feel it. She wanted desperately to be mad at him, to not want him, to curse him, blame him, hate him… and yet she didn't. All she could think about was how much she wanted his lips on hers. Desperately.

"My father is going to kills us both," she said.

"He always _used _to like me," Teddy said.

"Yes, yes, I know," she said. "He really did like you. Really liked us. And then…" "

"And then I hurt you," he finished simply.

She shook her head, not saying anything else and just deciding to face the music. She hooked her hand gently in his and then they headed toward the tents. Her heart was racing, and she could feel his pulse simply in his wrist, hammering rapidly and matching with hers.

She had missed the feeling of his hand around hers, and it was the same hand she remember, comforting, warm, strong. It was funny to think that that made her feel invincible. His hand, on hers. How strange.

"What are you doing?" her father's voice demanded from behind them. Vic whirled around, automatically terrified. She knew her father would never get too angry at her—she was fragile, handle with care—but she felt obligated to fear for Teddy. She decided to slide herself in front of him, creating with herself a barrier between him and Bill.

"Don't worry," Teddy whispered to her. "it's fine."

Vic grasped the wand that was sticking out of her pocket, ready to put up a shield charm at a moment's notice, if need be.

"I thought I told you to stay away from her," Bill growled, his scarred face contortion into a menacing glare. Vic sighed, wishing people would let her handle her own affairs.

"Dad, stop," she said simply. Bill's gaze met hers, angry and on fire.

"Why should I Victoire? After what he did to you, I should rip his arms off, that's what I should do. I shouldn't let him within an inch of you," Bill said.

"Please," Vic said. "It's just… we can't help it."

"Are you stupid?" Bill demanded, causing Vic to recoil at his choice of words. A couple of Bill siblings, or inlaws looked around catching part of the exchange. Harry took several steps forward, drawing his wand, just in case, in things started to get ugly. Vic felt Teddy's grip on her arm get tighter, and she knew he was getting ready to thrust her out of the way, if need be. If her father started shooting angry hexes.

"I'm not stupid!" Vic shouted, wishing he wasn't her father, wishing she couldn't just stop him in his tracks without feeling bad about it later. In truth, she really wanted to just stun him, get him to shut up and stop worrying so much. It was her job to worry.

"I don't want you making the same mistakes again!" Bill said. "I won't let it happen to you, Vicky! I don't want you around him, do you understand me?"

"I understand," she said. "but this isn't about what you want, Dad."

And so Vic daringly turned her back on him, took Teddy by the arm and walked ten feet, before twisting abruptly on the spot and disappearing with a crack.

They reappeared outside the Leaky Cauldron and Teddy looked slightly nauseated.

"I'm all for apparating, love," he said. "But dear god, give a man some advanced warning."

"We're going back in an hour," she informed him, pulling open the door to the Leaky and ushering him inside.

"I think that was a smart move," he said, nodding. "Let Harry, Ron and the others talk Bill down a bit."

"He's still going to hate you," she told him, stowing her wand back in her pocket. He put his arm around her waist, shrugging.

The barmaid who had replaced the barman Tom smiled at both of them as they approached. Her name was Rebecca, and Vic knew her well. She came to the Leaky Cauldron to escape, to get drunk, and she came often, her tongue loosened until she spilled all of her secrets to Rebecca.

"Hey, love," Rebecca said. 'See you've cheered up a little. Who's this?"

"Rebecca, this is the infamous Teddy," Vic introduced, flourishing to the man on her arm with a little bit of embarrassed pride.

"Is it now?" Rebecca said. "I suppose you'll be wanting a room then?"

"You suppose correctly," Vic said. Teddy's eyebrows flew upwards, hidden by his hair.

"What happened to taking it slow, Vic?" he wondered.

"Well I still live with my parents, and you live with Uncle Harry and Aunt Gin… this will be our last alone time for a while, I fear," she said, shaking her head a little.

"Vic…" he said, putting his arms around her tightly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said. "Come on, Teddy. Let's at least go up and talk, all right?"

He sighed, and she could see the hesitation in his eyes. She didn't want to be offended by his reluctance, because she was fairly certain that he didn't mean he didn't want her. Just that he wanted to be careful. But she couldn't help but get her back up. She needed to know things for sure with him and she wasn't sure how to go about such a thing.

"Room three," Rebecca said, passing over a key.

"Thanks," Vic said, turning and leading the way to the stairs. Teddy followed after her, his hand still on her waist. The two of them climbed the steps together, perfectly silent. Pushing the door to the room open, Vic led the way inside boldly, before shutting the door behind him.

He turned to look at her.

"What are you trying to do Vic?" he demanded, his voice still gentle. He reached out for her, and she allowed him to wrap her up in his arms.

"I don't know," she said. "I just don't believe you're going to stick around… maybe. And I want to make the most of it…."

She hid her face, embarrassed, burying it into his gray t-shirt. He rubbed her back gently, tipping her head up to look at him, to meet her eyes with his equally green ones.

"Vic…" he said gently. "I don't want to do anything stupid, that neither of us are really prepared for. Vic… it's been… a year and a half. Or more… More."

"Still…" she said.

"Vic," he said. 'I know it has to have changed the way we felt somewhat."

She shrugged. "You're still Teddy and I'm still Victoire."

"I need to know some things," he said, shaking his head. He led her over to the bed, and the two of them sat down on Rebecca's pristine bedspread, holding her hands.

"Ask me anything," she said. 'but I want your answers too."

"All right," he said. "Nodding. One question, that's all…. Vic, you know how beautiful you are, what you're capable of… were you ever with any other guys? Since I left?"

She sighed deeply. "You know this conversation can be turned around right on you in a heartbeat, Teddy."

"I wasn't with anyone!' he said quickly, his eyes on fire. "I never would, Vic!" No matter how quickly he answered, she believed him. She could see the sincerity in his eyes, and she blushed, embarrassed.

"It was only one guy," she whispered.

"Who?" he demanded, his voice still calm, gentle, not angry.

"Evan Thomas," she replied, shaking her head gently.

"Dean and Parvati's son?" he said, his eyebrows going up again. He was just shocked. Angry, she was fairly certain, he was not. And that, perhaps, made her even more remorseful.

"Yes," she admitted, looking down. Or at least trying to. He caught her chin and lifted it back up, locking her eyes again.

"When?" he wondered simply, and she tried to look away, hide her face.

"Last summer…" she said. 'it was at a party for Parvati and Dean's anniversary… And Evan and I were just hanging out… and we got to talking, and I was missing you, Teddy… I don't know…"

He was still for a moment, just looking down at her. She saw something flash in his eyes, and their color changed drastically from green to an impossibly dark brown, black, in fact.

"Teddy," she said.

"I don't blame you… love," he said. "I just… want to… I'm jealous, actually. And I want to hit him, Vic. Really badly. I don't know if I'll be able to refrain next time I see him…"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, burying her face in his t-shirt again. "I'm sorry Teddy…"

"Love…" he said. "It's okay."

She wondered if she truthfully had to feel sorry for what she did. Why was she apologizing, when he had a million things to apologize for, things he wasn't even acknowledging? And yet… he was Teddy and she was always weak for him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

Vic sighed gently, the sun hitting her face as she and Teddy stepped out into the bright sunlight. He smiled down at her, amazed at the beauty that she had retained. His memory had not done it justice, not in the least. He put an arm around her waist.

The two of them made the—in his opinion—intelligent decision to go for a walk down Diagon Alley. They stuck out badly in their Muggle clothes, but he didn't quite care. They walked down the Alley, heading for Fortescue's Ice Cream parlor where he was certainly going to treat her.

"Do you think your father is going to let me near you?" he wondered, rubbing her back gently as the sunlight shimmered off of her hair. She looked at him, flecks of gold in her green eyes. He smiled brightly, he couldn't help himself.

"I'm not sure," she replied as he held the door open to the ice cream shop for her. She walked through and he followed, hooking his arm around her again.

"I love you," he hissed in her ear as she stepped up to the counter. She smiled up at him.

"If he doesn't let me near you," she whispered. "I'll get away from him."

"I can't ask you do that," he told her, shaking his head. The man at the counter waited impatiently for them to order.

"You didn't ask," she said, turning away to look at the man at the corner. "I'll have a chocolate sundae, please."

Teddy ordered too, and they both sat outside in the summer London heat, a large umbrella shielding them from the direct sunlight so Vic's fair skin didn't burn. He looked across the table at her as she shoveled her hot fudge laden chocolate ice cream into her mouth. They were silent for a while, both of them looking at each other, gentle smiles on their face. There was something that was still careful about them, like they were hesitant. Vic's moment of desperation for him had faded into rationality at their collected conversation on the bed in the Leaky Cauldron.

"I've missed you," he told her.

"I missed you too," she said simply. He reached over gently, wiping a trail of hot fudge from her cheek. His brushed his fingers over her lips, and she closed her eyes. He drew his hand away and licked the hot fudge off of his own finger, smiling.

She opened her eyes again. "Fuck."

His eyes widened. "What did I do to deserve that expletive?"

"You fuck my mind up," she informed him putting her head in her hand, elbow on the table.

He slid his chair across the cobblestones beneath them, sliding an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Vic. I don't mean to…"

"it's in a good way, too," she whispered. "Most of the time."

He leaned in, kissing behind her ear gently. She shivered, clenching her hand around her spoon.

"And you wondered why I wanted a room?" she demanded, moving her head quickly to kiss him. She tasted like hot fudge and chocolate ice cream, a delicious combination, if you asked him. He slid his arms around her, pulling her closer, onto his lap. He kissed her neck delicately and she wound her fingers into his hair.

In public.

"Ahem!" a startlingly familiar voice said from behind them. Startlingly familiar meaning that it was, completely and utterly, the voice of their old headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, who had retired at the end of Teddy's sixth year.

Teddy and Vic broke apart abruptly, and she practically flung herself into her chair again, coughing and trying desperately to work tricks like Teddy did and rid her face of blush. Teddy let the blush crowd his cheeks for a moment, before shoving it out. That was the power that took concentration, sadly, as it wasn't as much appearance as it was moving his own blood through his body.

"Good morning, Professor," he said briskly. "How are you?"  
"I'd be much better if I didn't have to enjoy my Fortescue iced pumpkin juice with this lovely display in front of me, Mr. Lupin. How are you? I see you have returned."

"Yes," Teddy said, nodding briskly. "I'm well professor. Thank you."

"Mm hmm," McGonagall said curtly. "Glad to see you both are well. Are your parents around, Miss Weasley? Or have you broken free?"

"I wouldn't say I've broken free, but they aren't here," Vic replied, picking her spoon up out of the ice cream and taking another bite.

"We flew the coop from a massive Weasley gathering," Teddy explained. "We have to head back eventually."

"I need a napkin," Vic said, standing up and walking back toward the door of the shop.

Professor McGonagall sat down in the other chair at the table, looking sternly at Teddy over her eyeglasses. "Mr. Lupin, I don't know if you know what you did to that girl when you left, but I promise you, if you repeat your actions, I will assist her father willingly in hunting you down and murdering you."

The elderly woman rose swiftly from her chair and stalked with the pride of a lion toward the shops along the street. Teddy stared after her, dumbstruck. It horrified him that he had hurt Vic so badly that even Professor McGonagall was out to get him for it. He had always been one of her favorite students. He got an outstanding on most of his OWLs and NEWTs. He was a prefect, head boy.

Vic returned with her napkins in hand, wiping at her face and smiling brightly at him.

"I've always liked her," she said, sitting back down happily and bringing her spoon back to her mouth. Teddy sighed, smiling at her, masking his horror. He just let himself watch her hair as it shimmered in the sunlight. It looked silver at times like this, closer to Fleur's color, actually. He was incapable of anything but marveling at it.

Vic grumbled lightly to Teddy about returning to the Burrow, but he reasoned with her, saying a night in the Leaky Cauldron was unlikely to warm Teddy to Bill in the least. She finally relented. They twisted hand in hand on the spot, whirling around. Vic felt as if she was being shoved through a tiny little straw, and the two of them rematerialized in the Burrow's garden.

Mostly everything looked as it had when they left. The tents were still up. However, now everyone else was hanging out in the yard, some of the kids were flying in the orchard, with Ginny on the ground trying coach some of them.

The Weasley brothers, Bill, Ron, Charlie, Fred and the oddball Percy, were all sitting together, Harry with them, his jet black hair standing out much more prominently than graying Uncle Percy's. They all looked up at the crack that issued from the other side of the garden. Even from a distance, Vic could see her father's face darken upon the sight of her and Teddy, hand in hand.

"Deep breaths, be strong, we rule this place," she declared. He laughed gently, squeezing her hand.

He nodded gently, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "I love you."

"Always nice to hear," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. They started walking as if they had not disappeared from the Burrow at a moment's notice, for a good couple of hours. The two of them sort of avoided the cluster of brothers in the center of the garden and ducked in the back door where they hoped to find the women, minus Ginny of course.

Hermione and Audrey were sitting at the kitchen table, Molly, Angelina and Fleur standing, leaning against the counters.

"Looks who 'as returned!" Fleur said. "Victoire where on earth did you go?"

"Diagon Alley," Vic said simply. "I fancied some ice cream."

Hermione laughed. "That sounds about right. So Teddy, you're in tact? You must be quick on the uptake. You look so startled when she pulled you into that apparation I would've sworn you would've gotten splinched."

"I'm fine," Teddy said. "I always am quick on the Vic uptake."

Fleur pursed her lips, cutting into the otherwise cherry conversation again. "You father eez not 'appy wiz you, Victoire. I would not test 'im." Victoire wondered why on earth it was possible for her mother to have been in England for twenty-four years still retained her accent so prominently.

"Mum, please," Vic said. "Take my side here.'

"I will not! I will not take sides in thees!" she said sharply. "You will do as your father says, I think, because ee knows very well, Victoire."

Hermione looked sharply at Fleur, and so Angelina. Audrey was the only one who remained aloof. Even Molly put a hand on her face. Teddy looked down at Victoire, his expression careful.

"Fine," Vic said. "That's wonderful, Mum. Thank you."

She walked out of the kitchen, and Teddy was right behind her.

"Dad!" she shouted loudly, angry, her voice rising. Bill stood from the group of his brothers and started toward her across the lawn toward her. He still looked angry, and she knew that the look in his eyes was similar to the one in hers. She put her hands aggressively on her hips, meeting Bill with Teddy right behind her.

"Vic," Bill said. "You can't do this."

"Tell me, Dad, tell me exactly what you want me to do," she ordered him. "Let me know so I can think it through."

"I want you to realize that you're making an extremely stupid mistake and that you shouldn't go back to him. I don't want you back with him. In fact, he's not allowed in our house, Victoire. Not for a moment. I don't want you going out to be with him. And that's final. As long as you live with me, you're not allowed to see him," Bill said simply.

Vic turned on her heel and stalked off in the direction of the orchard where her cousins were flying through the air. Teddy was still a short distanced behind her, unsure, following though. She reached her Aunt Ginny in a moment's time.

"Are you all right, Vic?" Ginny demanded quickly, seeing the sight on her face.

"Can I move in with you… for a little while?" Vic wondered, her hormones and emotions speaking faster than her brain could work around it.

"Vic!" Teddy said. "What… what are you doing?"

Ginny gave him a look, Vic saw, to silence him.

"Yes, of course you can, Victoire. Anytime," she said, putting an arm around her niece. "You can share a room with Lily… I know she's young but…"

"Oh no, it's okay," Vic said, angry tears rushing out of her eyes. "I just… I can't… I need to figure things out without my father and mother breathing down my neck. He really won't let me… be my own person."

"Don't worry at all," Ginny said. "You're completely welcome."

Teddy watched as Victoire disappeared on the spot.

"I need to go with her," he said, shaking his head. "If I stay here, Bill will kill me."

"Hey," Ginny said. "Teddy, calm, all right? Harry and I have been anticipating this for a long time. The only reason I'd even consider letting her come is that I know Bill trusts me to keep an eye on her. I don't agree with his treatment of you… but I don't agree with the way you treated her. He could get Percy or Charlie on his side in a heartbeat, but not me, and not Ron… and… look, you go with her now, we'll meet you back home, all right? Get things figured out from there. This is not going to blow over, you understand? This is not going to make everything okay."

"I understand that," Teddy said, shaking his head. "Ginny…"

"You hurt her, Teddy, and I'm shocked that she's forgiving you so quickly. I would worry, if I were you, because there's something in her that is probably worried about what's happening with you. But I know her. Bill's been suffocating her lately, and all she wants is to get out of there… she's lunging at her first excuse to defy him… so I'm warning you now, there is a chance that when she can breathe for a while, she'll see things more clearly and not like what's she's seeing. I'm just warning you."

Teddy nodded. "I understand that too."

"Now go on, catch up with her," Ginny said, patting him on the shoulder. He turned on the spot and reappeared outside Shell Cottage.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N- this is the chapter your parents warned you about. Smut. In Harry Potter's house, no less! Review please... the whole story not this chapter. Thank you so much! Much love. **_

Victoire's bedroom smelled like the sea. The air was salty, clean and fresh. The curtains hung, billowing thin and white in front of the open window, blocking out little light from the outside world. Teddy found her there, packing, her hair contained in a tight bun behind her, though there were many flyaway strands shivering about her face in the breezes. Her back was bent over her suitcase, arched lightly, her prominent spine sticking through the same purple tank top. She had no idea he was there. Teddy was an auror. He was shocking good at keeping quiet.

She grabbed a black t-shirt from the piles of clothing on her bed, stripping her tank top over her head to reveal a lacy, tiny, black bra. He felt his breath catch a little in his throat as he leaned casually and silently against the door frame. Her back was lovely. He remembered that. One of his favorite parts about her body, actually. He remembered how smooth the skin was, creamy, silky, tasted clean too… He remembered that.

"Vic," he said, unable to keep himself quiet. She jumped.

"Teddy!" she gasped. "Holy… shit… what… I had no idea you were here."

"I'm a good auror," he said, shrugging gently. She stared at him for a moment, and he stared back. Her face was glossed with some form of tears, shining a little on her cheeks, down to her chin. Her eyes were washed over, shining too, teardrops clinging to her eyelashes. She seemed to forget she was in just her bra and shorts. Teddy had not forgotten. He was trying to keep his eyes on her face and failing miserably. He wanted to take the five steps, close the gap and not stop kissing her. But he figured they were under some sort of time constraint before Bill showed up and dismembered him.

"Come on, keep packing," he said gently. "I'll help you. What do you need me to do?"  
"There's a box on the top of my dresser," she said. "I need that."

He went over to her dresser, watching her in the mirror above it as she pulled on her shirt and started to expand her suitcase magically. She waved her wand around the room and other things from here and there started to fly—she wasn't very good at it, as things were bumping into each other. But they weren't fragile at all.

"That's why you're picking up the box," she commented as a sock got into a tussle with Vic's bikini top.

Teddy pulled the light wood box off of her dresser. The top was inlaid with beautiful flowers, carved out and set with the insides of different shells. The initials, VIW were carved into the top corner.

"What is this?" he wondered.

"My father gave it to me, the year I turned seventeen," she said. "After you left."

He nodded. "Do you mind if I look?"

"It only opens for me," she said, holding out her hands. She took it gently from his hands, brushed her thumb over the clasp, and slid it open. She lifted the lid and passed it back to him. Inside the lid, propped up was a photo of the two of them, the day he got into the auror program. Harry and Ginny threw him an impromptu party. The pic was of Vic kissing him, and it moved, him twirling her in a circle, throwing his head back and laughing. A pang hit Teddy's chest.

The rest of the box was filled with odd little things. There were three shells, glimmering bright, a vial of sand, a dried pale violet flower, a smooth white stone, and a necklace, a silver quaffle on a silver chain, which Teddy had given her for her fifteenth birthday. She used to wear it every day.

"I took that off," Vic said, stating the obvious. "Here, can you put it on me again?"

She turned and lifted her hair, and he hooked the necklace around her long neck again. Once it was hooked, he kissed the knob at the nape there, brushing his lips across her creamy skin.

There was a crack in the other room, and the two broke apart. Vic rushed to stuff the box into the folds of clothing and with a flick of her wand had her broomstick out of the closet, in her arms. Teddy zipped her suitcase quickly, readying to turn as quickly as possible to get them back to the Potter's.

It was Fleur, not Bill that appeared in Vic's door, however. She stood there delicately, her eyes focusing on Teddy and Victoire.

"I wanted to make sure zat you are gone," she said simply. "Your father eez coming, Victoire."

"Bye, Mum," Vic said, clinging tightly to her broom. Teddy hefted her suitcase and hooked his hand in hers. The two of them stepped in synch, leaving Shell Cottage far behind them.

The Potter's living room was empty. The moving family photos of the kids as babies, the forced family portraits where Albus and James tended to bicker and tussle with each other most of the time, were the only unstill things in the room.

"it's so quiet," Vic commented, setting her broomstick gently down so that it was leaning against the wall.

"Yes it is," Teddy said, putting his arm around her, pulling her into him. He started to rub her back gently. "I love you, Victoire."

"Teddy," she said, turning and putting her hands on his chest. "I feel… so much for you right now. Some good, some bad, something so intense that I mostly just want to knock you to the floor right here. Never thought I'd be the one begging for sex in a relationship."

His hand froze in the middle of the back and he met her gaze. "You're begging?"

She shrugged. "Perhaps not so much. But I might, if you wanted me to. Or if you withhold from me much longer. I've missed you, you see, Teddy. Been a little lonely."

He sighed his lips brushing against her neck, up by her ear. He pulled her close to him, his hand on the small of her back. She was so beautiful, so sexy, so perfect in everyway… and yet something in her hated him and that worried him. Her hand slid around his front hooking a couple of fingers into the waistband of his jeans. His body tense as she curved her hips around him slightly, arching her body.

Her breath was hot on his skin, her tongue on his neck. He shuddered, all the want he had suppressed for her, attempted to ignore, flaring up in the pit of his stomach. Her teeth grazed over his skin and he yanked her, if possible, closer.

He started to pull her in the direction of the stairs. They were on the bed in the guest room before he thought about it, him leaning over the top of her. She was still nibbling at his neck, her mouth drifting closer to his ear.

"Please," she whispered gently, her whisper sending tingles down his spine. He ripped her t-shirt over her head, flinging it across the room. Her chest heaved up and down as he ran his tongue along her breast bone, kissing her, his lips resting between her breasts. She yanked aggressively at the waistband of his jeans, undoing the button finally. His t-shirt was over his head instantly and she was pulling him out of his jeans. He yanked her shorts off too, not even sure if he unbuttoned them or not. His hands wound around her back and undid her bra while he kissed her stomach gently.

Vic had difficulty keeping herself still as his tongue and teeth trailed over her stomach. Once he had her bra off, he started working at her panties, his mouth moving up to her breasts, his mouth starting to trace them now.

She felt something hard press into her leg and she reached down tugging aggressively at his boxers until she could slide them off of him completely. He sucked at her breast aggressively, causing her back to arch again. Her hand reached down gently to grab him and he sucked in his breath, groaning almost instantly. He was weak then, weak enough that he could push him onto his back so she was leaning over him now, touching him.

He was distracted at this point, she could tell. His head fell back, his eyes closed as she worked powers she didn't even know she had until this point. The last time they were together, the only time, it had been simple traditional, and perhaps a little less needy. After a moment, he snapped his eyes open.

"Victoire… stop," he said hoarsely, moaning in between the words. "Stop…"

"Why?" she whispered leaning down, her mouth getting dangerously close to him.

"No," he said grabbing her hair to stop her. "if you don't stop, I won't be able to stop myself. And I want to… with you."

He groaned again, his breath catching, and then he pushed her off of him, so that he was on top of her now, again, and he pinned her arms over her head.

"This was about you after all," he said, leaning down to nip at her neck. He slid his thigh in between her legs, causing her to shudder again, letting out a soft sound of pleasure. She freed her arms and put her hands on his back, gripping at him as if she could find purchase with her lack of nails. At the moment, all she wanted was him, inside of her. He slid his hand down to replace his thigh with his hand, which brushed over her gently, causing her to tense and then moan again.

"Please," she said again. "Goddamn it."

He spread her legs until he was in between them. He carefully entered her, causing her to bite her lip in order to stop from screaming like a school girl. He moved back gently, pulling out a ways and then pushing back in quickly. She gasped and then the pain subsided into absolute passion. She gripped at him again, starting to thrust her hips in time with him.

She came, moaning and practically screaming in pleasure, and her coming, her undulation, forced him over the edge so that he came inside her, moaning with pleasure as he let out all of himself into her. Finally he collapsed against her shoulder, exhausted. He rolled away so that he could let his full weight plop on the bed, not on top of her. She pressed her body into his side, licking the salty sweat from his skin.

"I've missed you," she whispered.

"I missed you too," he replied, putting his arm around her. She curled up into his side, feeling like a stupid child for one reason and one reason only—this man had hurt her so bad, and all she did was crawl back to him. She cursed herself for feeling alive with him, for forgiving, and for moment when she forgot. All she wanted was to be able to be angry. Instead, she begged him desperately. Instead, she clung to him for her life.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

A noise on the stairs caused Teddy to jerk away, looking over his shoulder. Vic stirred, pulling him closer to her, snuggling into his side.

"Vic," he said, stroking her hair. "Come on, get up, love, Harry and Ginny are home.

He slid his legs off the bed and Vic sat up abruptly. "What?"

Just then the door swung open, as the two Potter boys had no idea about the concept of a knock. A closed door was nothing to them. And so they were privileged in, for the first time, seeing a woman naked from the waist up, and seeing a grown male in nothing but his birthday suit.

"My eyes!" Albus screamed, covering his eyes as if he had been blinded. James laughed.

"Whoopsies. Dad, Teddy's up here. And so's Vic. And—"

"Watch your mouth kid," Teddy warned him snappishly. "And get the hell out of here, both of you."

James just laughed so Teddy through his shoe at him, catching him in the arm. With a wave of his wand, the door snapped shut and locked behind the two of them.

"Oh no," Vic said, her hands over her mouth. "Oh dear god…"

"It's all right," Teddy said. "It's all right, love don't worry."

"Oh yes, it's splendid," Vic said, grabbing her clothes off the floor and pulling them all on in a rush. "Uncle Harry and Aunt Gin are just going to _love _this. I'll be off to live with Ron and Hermione, and you know how fun _that _will be."

He locked his arms around her waist, now back in his jeans. "Let them try to take you away from me. You're stuck now, Weasley."

She laughed a little, despite their predicament, and turned around to kiss his chest once. "Get your shirt on, Lupin."

"Why?" he said. "I think you prefer me this way."

"This is not about what I prefer," she informed him.

There was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Teddy demanded, pulling his t-shirt over his head.

"Harry," his godfather's voice replied, causing Vic to cringe and try to get some of the knots out of her hair. She didn't get a chance to tell Teddy to smooth his before he waved his wand and the door clicked open. Harry stepped through, crossing his arms and looking at the two of them.

"Well then," he said. "We leave you alone for… an hour? Two at the most… And this is what happens? Good lord. You would think you were animals. Get your arses out of here and head downstairs—Ted, you're washing the sheets, not Ginny."

Teddy shot a look at Victoire, a kind one that he hoped clearly said, "See? Told ya it would be okay." He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs with him, Harry following right behind.

"Do you think I can obliviate their memories?" Vic whispered as they walked past the boys in the kitchen. Albus and James tittered behind their hands.

"It's worth a shot," Teddy said. "You might wipe their minds completely, but I honestly see nothing wrong with that… Stop laughing, James, or I swear to you I will hex you so that—"

"So what?" James said, grinning devilishly. The child was a devil. And Teddy had fostered it. He cursed himself for that… why had he encouraged their misbehavior? He certainly regretted it now.

Teddy looked over his shoulder to see Ginny and Lily safely out of earshot. He ducked his head to hiss in James' ear. "I will not have you wanking off to the image of my girlfriend."

Harry couldn't help himself. He actually laughed. Vic shot him a look, crossing her arms over her chest protectively.

"I—" James said. "I don't… I… I'm _fourteen, Teddy!"_

"Yeah well, you would cringe if you knew what I was up to at fourteen," Teddy said, smacking him upside the head once. "So shut your godforsaken mouth, will you?"

"What _were _you up to at fourteen?" Vic wondered in a hush when Teddy returned to her side.

"Well…" Teddy said. "Not as much as you would think."

She laughed. "Empty words then?"

"More or less," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

"So," Ginny said. "Vic, I sent your stuff up to _your _room where you are bunking with Lily."

Teddy raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend. Everyone present, except for maybe Lily, knew very well that come the evening, Vic would be sneaking down the hall to slide back into Teddy's bed.

"Thanks, Aunt Gin," Vic said, settling at one of the stools in the Potter's kitchen. Teddy settled next to her, putting his arm around her.

"Your mother cooled your father down enough to persuade him not to come here and drag you out by your ankles, so that is a plus," Ginny continued, tying her hair back into a ponytail. "And now we're all starving. So I hope you'd all like food."

"I'm starving," Vic said.

"Yes, I hear that sometimes people get hungry after strenuous activity," James's voice called from behind. Teddy whirled and, before the younger boy could react, James was hanging in the air, some invisible hook on his ankles.

"Put me down!" James complained, blood rushing to his head and glasses slipping off his face. Harry made absolutely no motion to help his son as Albus chortled from the couch, looking up at his brother with absolute glee.

"I'd rather not," Teddy said, stalking across the space and glaring heatedly at the kid that had been his like his sibling his whole life. "Keep your mouth shut, will you, James? I swear to god, keep it shut or I will hex it shut for a day. And then where will you be? See we'll be happy, because we won't have to listen to your snarky comments all day long. So keep your mouth shut."

Teddy turned away from him and sat back down at the counter.

"Teddy?" James' voice asked quietly.

Teddy looked over his shoulder.

"Can you put me down?" James wondered.

Teddy just turned around again.

"Dad?" James asked.

"Hmm?" Harry said.

"Can you get me down?"

"I'd rather not either," Harry replied.

"Harry…" Ginny warned, trying to keep a straight face herself.

Teddy lazily waved his wand over his shoulder and James toppled on his head, landing in a heap on the sofa. Al and Lily couldn't help but laugh, too.

"Now, the three of you, Lily, James, Albus, go upstairs. And if I catch you will extendable ears, I will hang you all up by your ankles until your toes go numb. Now go on," Ginny said.

The three Potter children scurried up the stairs at their mother's command, leaving Vic and Teddy alone in the kitchen with Ginny and Harry.

"I think we're in trouble," Vic whispered to teddy.

"They love me, and I'm an orphan, so they're incapable of punishing me," Teddy said simply.

"I'm an orphan too, never stopped anyone from punishing me," Harry replied strictly. "But punishing is not the word we're going for her, Teddy. Cautioning is more like it, right Gin?"

"I think that's more like it," Ginny agreed, shooting a stream of cream sauce out of her wand into a pan. She waved her wand and a fire started underneath it.

"Cautioning?" Vic echoed.

"Wizards are a lot better at this than Muggles, but we wanted to just make sure that you're being intelligent and _safe _about this," Harry said simply.

"Oh," Teddy said, putting up his best barriers to keep the blush in his cheeks from mimicking that that had just rushed into Vic's.

"Yeah," Ginny said. "Bill would kill us all if we ended up with any little Lupins, you know."

Teddy looked at Vic, who looked absolutely horrified at the prospect. Teddy agreed that that perhaps would not be the best thing at the moment.

"Don't worry," he told them, reassuring them. They were practically his parents after all. He may have been "raised" by his grandmother, but the Potters were the ones he felt truly at home with. Harry and Ginny were the ones that made him the person that he was the person they said his real parents would've been more than proud of…

"We don't exactly encourage or condone this behavior," Ginny said, figuring out how to word her feelings and at the same time sound like the parent she should sound like. "But then, Teddy you are twenty, and Victoire, you are eighteen… we just want you to be careful. Please. And dear god, don't give James any more ideas or any more fuel. He gets along well enough as it is…"

Teddy laughed a little, looking to the side at Vic who smiled at him.

"Don't worry, Aunt Ginny, we'll be smart and careful and don't worry—we don't want James to have any more ideas either."

"Okay," Ginny said. "Lord… what did we get ourselves into, Harry?"

"We involved ourselves with Vic and Teddy," Harry said. "That right there says it all, I think, dear."

Ginny shook her head. "Hardly reassuring."

"It wasn't supposed to be," Harry said, smiling and kissing his wife on the cheek.

"That's really cold," Teddy said, looking at Vic who appeared to feeling the same way. "What's so bad about us, eh?"

"Nothing that isn't entirely your own faults," Harry said, shrugging simply.

"Now I think I'm really insulted," Vic whispered, looking up at her aunt and uncle, a little offended and slightly embarrassed at that.

"I always knew with you two…" Ginny said. "That you'd be trouble, but you wouldn't be able to stay away from each other. That's what your father said from the beginning Vic… that you and Teddy got along too well. Partners in crime, good at arguing—and dear god, Teddy you were not afraid to yell at her, no matter how old she was… honestly, not a one of us was surprised when you came home kissing. Not in the least."

Teddy laughed, looking at Vic, who couldn't help but smile back. He could remember the times she had spent rowing with him when she was younger. Most people—mainly James and Albus—could not work themselves out of an argument with Teddy. He could spin anything and terrify anyone with his comments. Except Vic. He could still remember the first time she fought back. She was six, he was eight, and she gave a dose of all of his medicine right back at him—to the point where she won he was so dumbstruck. Ginny and Harry had been looking on closely, as if it was the entertainment of the month. Mostly because even they had difficultly arguing with Teddy.

And then there was the time when she stole his broomstick. He was in his second year, so she wasn't at Hogwarts yet. And she took it up into the skies, flying over the trees. He'd been angry, and completely yelled at her from the ground. Vic retaliated in the only way she thought would work from the sky—she spit on his head.

His friends used to make fun of him, from the very beginning of his third year, for having a friend in the first year. They didn't understand it—how could he be friends with a girl that was two years younger than him? They stopped questioning it when he started kissing her. Even though the kids in the family still made a massive deal about it, especially if it happened in public, like when he saw her off in her sixth year, or when they ran into each other Christmas break of the same year, at Flourish and Blotts, and they couldn't stop kissing over books about predicting your future…

He smiled at her. He wondered if he would ever be able to make up what he'd done to her… She didn't deserve it… and yet, it had to be done. What could he do?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

Vic rolled over onto her back, the sunlight streaming in through the window and slanting onto her face. She reached out carefully, hoping to run her hands through his downy soft hair. Her hand met with empty space, and she sat up quickly.

"Teddy?" she asked stupidly to the empty room. It was quiet. His wand, which had been on the bedside table, was gone, so were the set of robes that had been hanging over the chair at his desk. There was a Daily Prophet on the desk, from this morning, clearly, as well as a plate of scones and an empty coffee cup.

Next to the plate of scones was a piece of paper, folded in half and propped up like a tent on the wood. Her name was printed across the front in Teddy's untidy handwriting. She slid out of the bed, and crossed the floor to his desk, pulling the card off of the desk. She unfolded it carefully.

_Morning, Love, _

_ You were out cold, and I didn't want to disturb you. I have to work today—I know, me working, what a concept. But I suppose that's what I get for going through auror school: I actually have to be an auror now… they really should've told me that when I signed up… Anyway, I shouldn't be back too late today. Harry had to go in for work too, and Ginny said she was taking the kids to Diagon because she wanted to get them all new robes before the school rush. They said help yourself to anything… Anyway, love, I'll see you soon. Have fun today with James and Al when they get back… I've trained them fairly well, don't worry._

_ Love, Teddy_

Victoire grabbed one of the scones and headed to the shower. She hated being alone. She absolutely hated it. There was nothing remotely appealing about sitting in her own silence for any extended period of time. It drove her nuts.

She turned the shower on cold—that was the only way she could tolerate it in the summer. She liked them piping hot in the winter, cold as ice in the summer. She hadn't showered since the day that they went to the Burrow, and though that was only two days ago—when dear god it felt like a lifetime—she felt it was long over do. Not that one could ever tell when Vic didn't shower. Her hair just always looked clean.

After the shower, in which she sang very loudly and off-key in order to avoid the crushing silence, she found herself standing alone, silent and impatient in the Potter's kitchen. Ginny had left her coffee and scones as well, but she only had a cup before she found herself pacing around the picture-coated living room.

There was Ginny with the Harpies, Harry with Sirius Black and Teddy's father when Harry was in his fifth year, there was a Potter family photo, with Ginny grabbing Teddy by the collar to get him in there—he claimed he wasn't fit for the portrait, but they had ended up pinning him down in real life, though the picture version of him still seemed to have the same mentality. There was a massive photo of the entire extended Weasley family, including Teddy and his grandmother Adromeda, Luna and Rolf and Neville and Hannah… it was everyone that truly was part of the family. Vic could easily see Teddy—he was standing right next to her, their hands linked together, and his hair kept changing colors in the photo, as he had been doing at that moment in order to annoy his grandmother. And then there was Harry with the minister and Ron, who was standing in the background looking like he really didn't want to be there… And Harry standing cordially with Draco Malfoy, old enemies shaking hands, declaring truce. Harry was smiling, and so was Draco.

Vic sighed and looked at the clock. She had looked around at every photo and not ten minutes had gone by. She wondered if this was going to be the longest day of her life… she doubted it, but it would probably be in the top ten. With a wave of her wand, her broomstick and a set of dark purple robes whooshed down the stairs, ending up in her hand. She gripped the handle of the broom and turned aggressively on the spot.

The Harpie's stadium was beautiful, grand and Vic's second favorite place in the world—she couldn't quite say what her first favorite was, but that didn't really matter. She stalked across the crisply cut emerald grass in the direction of the locker room.

She presented her wand to the door, which swung open to let her in. Her locker was at the far end of the line, past a line of those from her other teammates on the first string. The second stringers were the second set over, and Vic felt privileged to not have her locker with them, but with the first. Being a first string Keeper at the age of eighteen was surreal. She knew that much.

She pressed her hand into the front of the locker, and it read her palm like a scanner she had seen on a Muggle crime show at her muggle-born friend, Therese's house. The door swung open and she began to pull on all of her equipment.

The pitch was empty when she stepped out onto the grass. Vic didn't feel embarrassed to bend down and brush her hands over the perfect grass, to want to roll around in it, in fact. There was no reason for her to be ashamed. The first thing she had seen when she got here was the captain, Diane Watson, the seeker, lying on her back, looking up at the clouds, with the chasers all lined up beside her, making what Watson called "Grass Angels." There was just this communal love for the pitch, for the game, for the air, for all of it.

Vic swung her leg over her broom and pushed off from the ground. She shot into the air like a firework, shooting upwards. Her ponytail whipped behind her as the wind yanked through it. A massive smile crossed her face. Even in her darkest hour, flying could always make Vic smile. And this was far from her darkest hour. The sun beat on her neck, but she felt good because she was cooled by the breeze. Starting to lap the stadium she gained velocity on turns, speed that would cause any unsure flier to lose control, go shooting in some wrong direction, perhaps collide with the stands, or a tree, or something. But she had been flying since she was two, or at least, that was how she remembered it, on the back of her uncle Charlie's broomstick, while Bill cussed at his brother from the ground, screaming at him to not kill his daughter before she saw three…

Or that was the story. Vic didn't' actually remember that far back… but in truth, she couldn't remember _not _knowing how to fly. She'd just always been able to. She made the house team her second year, beating out seventh years for the position. She could remember the look on the captain at the time's face when she lapped the pitch and blocked more shots than anyone else.

"Oy! Weasley! Weasley!" Victoire skidded to a halt when the voice sounded from down on the pitch, her coach, and Ginny's friend, Avery Lawson, was standing there, waving her hand dramatically through the air.

"Morning!" Vic called waving.

"Get down here, will you?" Avery called. Even from so far up, Vic could see the exasperation on the woman's face. Dropping in a dangerous and perhaps some what melodramatic nose dive, Vic landed precisely on her feet, soft and solid, right in front of Avery.

"Hi," Vic said eagerly.

"Practice doesn't start until next week," Avery reminded her.

"I know, I know," Vic said. "But… I just wanted to fly."

Avery laughed a little. "I know the feeling. Just wanted to know what you're doing… do you want someone to practice with? I could send some shots your way, if you want. Work my shooting muscles.

"That would be wonderful," Vic said.

"I have to say, you're in a very chipper mood today, Weasley," Avery commented as she tied her hair ebony hair back gently, swinging a leg over her broom and pushing up. "Not even since the day I saw you win the Quidditch cup… again. But still. That Ravenclaw and Gryffindor game was intense…"

"Not when you absolutely refuse to lose," Vic replied. "They were not getting the title. I'd won it every year I was on the team. Gryffindor wasn't losing on my watch."

"I like that attitude," Avery said. "I don't want any losing up here either—in fact, I refuse to lose as well… Though I suppose we're not perfect, some defeat is to be expected."

"That's the wrong attitude," Vic contradicted. "My captain told me that in my third year and we lost our first game. No one else has ever said that to me. I have only lost a game three times in six years…"

Avery laughed. "Never mind then. Now go one, get by the goals."

Avery was a damn good chaser. She threw in ways that Victoire had _never _seen on the pitch at Hogwarts. It tested Vic's ability, which was good, because her keeping skills had been enough to make her last year at Hogwarts a shut out. Not one goal was scored on Victoire Weasley in her seventh year. Gryffindor won by at least a hundred fifty points to zero each time. Always a hundred fifty points or more. Always zero for the other team.

She and Avery had to play for a good hour or more and Vic only let in two goals, however. By that point, they had been, somehow, joined by their seeker, three chasers, and both beaters. What the entire team was doing a week early to practice was unknown, but they were all there.

There were the chasers, the freckly red head, Emily George, the deep brunette, Quinn Riley, and Haley Otterman, whose chin length blonde hair was just several shades darker than Vic's. The beaters were Rory McDonald, and Casey Reginald, the former short, but powerful, and the latter six three and muscled. Finally, there was Diane, the seeker, who was smaller even than Rory, not even five feet, thin as a rail, and nimble. She was the stereotypical seeker, just a couple of years older than Vic, and a Beauxbatons girl, who didn't have an ounce of French blood in her, but a familial friendship with Madame Maxime, which led to the girl from Wales ending up in a French school.

"I love how we're all here!" Diane said, bouncing up and down on her broom.

"It's because I've never seen people that love the game as much as all of you do," Avery said, smiling at all of them. "This is one of the best teams I've ever had the pleasure of knowing and seeing. I saw the way you all worked together at the very beginning, when we first all got together… And I know that there is flow and passion in all of you and… I know we'll be amazing."

"My fiance says your husband makes similar speeches," Diane said. "All of the time."

"Hey, now," Avery said, shaking her head.

"Why didn't you take his last name anyway?" Diane wondered. "Too many innuendoes with the name?"

"No, I had my own identity before I met him!" Avery said. "Avery Wood would've been just fine, so shut your mouth, Watson…"

"Fine, fine," Diane said, lounging back on her broom in a way that was actually quite daring. But Diane had finesse and skill that Victoire hadn't known existed. In fact, that was the way of the entire team. And that was why she felt at home here, more than she had in any other place before.


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: This is similar to chapter 6 everyone, but the thing is, before anyone starts to think that this is PWP, I swear to you, it's coming. It's hinted at her, just slightly, and now that Teddy and Vic are successfully reacquainted and establishing their feelings again, it's going to get even more fun. I'm not saying chapters like this are going to cease to exist, because they're not... It's just... there will be more to it. ~C**_

Teddy looked up from his desk, the cubical that was his, that he was already making his own. He was pouring over a load of paperwork that had been dumped on his desk by Ron, who he was working under at this point and who was somewhat of a power-abuser, but amusing nonetheless.

"You can go home now," Harry said, leaning over the top of the cubical to smile at Teddy.

"Really?" Teddy said, looking up eagerly.

"Yes," Harry said. 'And I promise there won't be that much work for you tomorrow. Ron's just abusing his powers for the moment. Think of it as a hazing if you will…"

"All right," Teddy said, laughing a little and standing up. He stretched his arms above his head and sighed deeply. "Kay. I'm heading home then."

"See you for dinner," Harry said, clapping him on the shoulder.

Teddy clocked out with his wand at the door and then headed out of the office.

When he got home, Vic was sprawled on his bed, fanning herself and looking moderately lovely. It didn't help that she was just in a bra and shorts.

"Oh lord," she said, jumping to cover herself when he came in. "Hey, Teddy."  
"Why the hell are you putting your shirt on?" he demanded, stalking over to the bed and pulling her t-shirt out of her hands.

"Teddy…" she said. "Harry already accused us of being animals."

"I know," he said. "I know, I know. But god you're so beautiful." He buried his nose in neck gently, pulling his robes away from his shoulders so he was just dressed in his button down.

"And you smell good," he said, stroking her hair.

"Just showered," she explained, winding her arms around him. He ducked his head and kissed around the strap of her polka-dotted bra.

"Mm, damn," he said, shaking his head.

"Why are you damning that?" she wondered running her fingers through his hair.

"Because…" he said.

"Because a million dirty things are running through your mind right now," Vic said.

"You know me too well," he said.

"The least of which is shower sex," she continued.

"Get out of my head," he ordered, kissing her gently on the soft skin of her neck. She was right on though, of course, because she was Vic and she always knew with him.

"I suppose this would just be bad behavior," he said. "After all… a relationship should be more than shagging, right…?"

"Yes, exactly," Vic said, kissing him and then pulling away.

He almost glared at her, but laughed at the somewhat smug expression on her face. He stretched out next to her, winding an arm around her middle.

"What did you do today, love?" he wondered, tugging his fingers through her hair very gently.

"I went to the pitch and played with the team," she said.

"Oh the Harpies!" he said. "Yes! I forgot to talk to you more about that. I'm so proud of you, Vic. I always knew you would get it. You were captain in you fourth year… and you've always been trying for the Harpies… and now you've got it. Next step, the English National Team."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," she ordered him.

"You know, Viktor Krum did it before he was out of school," he reminded her.

"He was a special case," she said, shaking her head. "But that would be wonderful… to play for England."

"I bet you could do it, I honestly do,' he informed her, pulling her close. "What's that bloke they've got there now? Andrews? He's not all that young and he's not all that good. They need a Weasley on that team, I think. Finally."

"Mm, I suppose we can dream," she said, kissing his shoulder gently. "How was life at the Ministry?"

"Your uncle is a prat," Teddy said.

"You have to help me out here… I have five uncles, Teddy… last time I checked three of them worked at the Ministry… maybe more. I can't keep track of all of them…" she muttered.

"Ron," he elaborated. "Kept feeding me work. I suppose he thought it was fun and all, but I wasn't really enjoying it. Harry said he'll lay off of me tomorrow… I only hope he's right."

"Ron's always been like that," she said. "He's Ron."

"Mm," Teddy said. "I know. He's a good guy."

"All Weasleys are good people," Vic said. "It's in the blood, you know."

"I guess it is," he agreed.

"Good's in your blood too," she told him, putting her hand over his heart.

"I don't know," he said. "Look at my great-aunt, Vic."

"Look at your mother," she whispered. "And your father… And your grandfather…"

He shook his head, looking up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes at that moment, and all he could think of was Bellatrix Lestrange. He pushed it from his head, or at least he tried, over and over.

"Hey," she said, sitting up and brushing her hands over his hair. It was fading, mousy. "Your mother and your father were two of the most amazing people my parents and my aunts and uncles have ever met. Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks were absolutely amazing people, Teddy. And its their blood and their goodness and passion that is in you. Nothing else. Remember that."

He nodded, turning her face back toward hers. If only she knew everything he knew, heard everything he heard… what would she think then? Would she hate him? He could only wonder.

"Full moon tonight," he whispered.

She pulled away from him, looking down at him gently.

"Yes, I know," she said.

He sighed. "That will be fun."

Unlike his father, Teddy did not transform. Instead he got angry—to the point where a single word in a conversation could set him off. He was edgy, fidgety and cruel in the words that came out of his mouth. He felt horrible after word, like he had a bad hangover. And like he was a bad person too… he would bite everyone's heads off, including Vic, and he felt horrible for that… He would get into fights at school, dueling his dormmates even in the dead of night, just because he couldn't sleep and they were breathing loudly.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I'll keep you in check."

"You should sleep in Lily's room tonight," he suggested, stroking her cheek. He didn't want to hurt her at all.

"Fat chance," she whispered, grabbing his hand and kissing his fingers. She brought his index inside of her mouth and sucked on it gently. He closed his eyes.

'We should be good," he said. "I'm going to go take a shower."

He slid away from her and headed into the guest bathroom.

Vic grumbled under her breath as the bathroom door closed. Grumbling a little, she stood up and stalked grumpily after him. He couldn't be so flirty and then walk away from her. Especially when she wanted nothing more than to put him over the edge with bliss, so that maybe this evening wouldn't be so miserable.

She pushed open the bathroom door without a problem, just as he stepped in the shower.

"Vic!" he said. "What are you doing?"

"Making you overly happy," she said, unhooking her bra and dropping it on the floor.

"it's not necessary," he said. "Really… we shouldn't…"

'Oh shut up," she said. "You know you want to. You fucking tosser."

He stuck his head out of the shower. "Tosser?"

"I could break out the worse language, if you'd like," she said.

"Please do," he said, chuckling.

"Mmm… perhaps not now…" she said, looking over her shoulder at him.

He glared at her a little. "Get in here, Victoire."

She shoot him a look then, sliding out of her shorts and dropping them on the floor. She dropped her panties and slipped into the shower with him. He caught her hips as soon as she was in there, shoving her under the spray. After a moment of soaking her, he began to lick the water off of her shoulders.

"Mm," he said. "You do know how to cheer a man up, sweetheart."

"I do try," she said, reaching up and brushing her fingers through his drenched hair. She trailed her fingers down his cheek and then stepped closer to him, kissing his neck.

"I love you," he told her again, pressing her back up against the cold tiles and started to suck aggressively at his neck.

"Fuck," she whimpered.

"Willingly," he said in a growl, dragging his teeth across her skin. "You are… positively… well, too good, and so I think I ought to soil that…"

"Mm, but it's endearing," she said as he lifted her leg until it was hitched on his hip.

"I think it's endearing… until I want you to be… a little less well behaved, I suppose," he said.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in more than a year, arsehole, and yet… you want me to be just what you think I should be..." she said. "I think I'll be whatever the hell I want to be, how does that sound?"

"What do you _want _to be, Victoire?" he whispered, his lips at her ear.

"Well…" she said. "I don't want to say."

"Oh?" he said.

"Well, I'd very much like to be bad," she said, shrugging. "Because I get to be bad with you… I don't think kids at Muggle Uni get this much action…"

"Perhaps they don't," he said. "But we aren't at a muggle uni, now are we, Vic?"

"I suppose not," she said. "My father would kill me."

He pulled away. "Damn Vic, there goes that." She looked down, at what he was referring to.

"Whoops," she said simply.

"Do me a favor and don't bring you father up again?" he said, shaking his head and smiling a little.

"Oh I can do that," she said. "Now come on, I know that didn't ruin it forever."

"Give me a minute," he said, closing his eyes.

She grabbed his hand and put it on her breast. "How's that?"

He raised an eyebrow, as she pushed her entire self closer to him. She ducked her hand lower again, causing him to shudder again and squeeze her tightly.

"I've never done _this _before," she said. "In the shower, I mean."

"Me either," he said. 'Something new and exciting everyday…"

She hooked her leg up on his hip again.

"My dear god you have no idea what you do to me," he informed her.

"I have a feeling that it's something like what you do to me," she replied, kissing his lips.

"Oh…" he said. "I suppose that's right. Damn…"

"Damn again?" she said. "Really."

"How about you shut up, Vic?" he suggested.

"How about you make me," she ordered.

He met her gaze for a moment, his eyes on hers, green on green, and then his hand was between her legs again, exploring her gently as she shuddered against the shower wall, her entire body begging him, everything but her mouth at this point.

"That shut you up," he commented.

She said nothing as he slid a finger in and out of her, causing her to moan gently. He shoved his lips up against hers and she bit down on his hard to keep from crying out. She reached out carefully fisted him again, and they both had to maintain their heads in order to make this more than a one-sided ordeal.

He took his hand away, pulling her legs apart widely, before thrusting upwards, and entering her again. She moaned as his hands slid over her wet body, and he thrust himself back and forth, causing her to let her head fall backwards as her hands slipped from their holds on his shoulders, sliding around on his skin.

"I fucking love you," he said. "I bloody fucking love you, Victoire."

"I bloody fucking love you too!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

Teddy glowered into the mirror. His hair was darkening, he noted, and so were his eyes. But he let it happen. He didn't have enough control over himself to try and metamorphose. It was not a good idea.

Vic sat on the bed, looking out the window. "It's not even twilight."  
"The moons up," he grunted his reply, drumming his fingers once on the dresser. He turned around to look at her. They'd just finished dinner, and Lily made a comment that his eyes had turned from green to brown. Vic had just taken him by the hand and he'd followed her willingly up the stairs. He didn't need to go off on the rest of the Potter family tonight, even though he had in the past. Usually it was Harry that ended up keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn't get too rough on James or Albus, or making sure he didn't make comments that would send Lily into tears. Now he had Vic… though sending her into tears was probably an option as well. But she wouldn't hear of living.

And now he'd reached the point where he really didn't give a damn whether she left or stayed.

She stretched out on his bed, her bed, their bed, whatever the hell it was, and looked up at the ceiling.

"Come over here," she said, patting the space next to her. She'd been with him through this before, used to hold his hands at Hogwarts, get him to calm down some of the time, stand in the way when he started getting arseholish.

He sighed, looking out the window, and traipsed over to the bed with leaded feet, sitting next to Vic gently. She sat up and started to rub his back gently, massaging her gentle fingertips into his shoulders and the tight muscles of his neck. He sighed deeply, breathing in and out. Then he turned his head.

"I love you," he said. "Whatever I say or do tonight, I love you…"  
"Have you ever wondered if you're saying what you really feel?" she questioned gently, brushing her lips over the back of his neck.

"No," he said. "Don't question it either. I love you, Vic."

"I love you too," she said, running her hands through his hair.

He turned to her, wondering if he looked as much like a little kid as he felt when he said the words. "Tell me a story. Distract me."

She smiled gently. "What do you want the story to be about?"

"Anything," he said. "You. Tell me a story about you. One I don't know."

"You know most of them…" she murmured. "but let's see… Well, in sixth year, my Quidditch team was sort of shoddy, you know, not exactly what I wanted into a team , but it was comprised of the least of the evils, as I'm sure you know…

'And well, I got a little angry with them at practice, which is understandable, if you saw the way they were play. So I just told them that I was leaving and they better have the play perfected when I returned. Misbehaving me, I set off over the forest on my broom, ready to punch someone—I wasn't about to lose the cup, you see, because it really does belong to me. I practically own it now… or well Neville does, because it sits in his office… but… anyway…"

"You took off over the forest," he prompted.

"Oh right," she said. "Anyway, I was flying off over the forest, when I just decided to land in one of the open areas there, seeing as I didn't find the forest all that dangerous, you know… I wasn't there three minutes when this trio of unicorns just appears out of the forest. They like girls best, you know, which is why I think they weren't afraid of me… But they just came right out… It was surreal. It was jus tthis overly warm October Saturday, and I was alone in this green field with these flowers and these unicorns… It's very magical, I tell you. And I don't even like unicorns that much—too flashy, too prancy, you know…"

"You and unicorns," he said, actually laughing a little. Mostly because last he knew Vic didn't think they were prancy, but _terrifying. _Everyone else in her Care of Magical Creatures class in her fifth year was afraid of the thestrals, which Vic couldn't see, but whom she loved and petted. And then Hagrid brought out the unicorns and Vic wouldn't go near them. Just another one of her quirks, Teddy always thought.

"You know," she said. "I told you, I got yelled at by the O.W.L examiner for saying aloud while drawing a Bowtruckle, that Unicorns are scary. I got an effing Oustanding on that O.W.L, but the way. But he told me they only are scary if they get mad. And I said that was the issue, and he said they only get mad when you try to take their hair, and asked if I was trying to steal unicorn hair… I told him I was too afraid of them to take their hair. Meanwhile, the other examiner next to him was laughing. I think she probably gave me the Outstanding, just because I could argue with the other guy."

Teddy laughed. "You would have an argument with and examiner during a very important test…"

"Well yes…" she said. "But anyway, there I was with all of the unicorns, and I felt good about it, like it was okay. They were really sweet, you know. Very sweet. And then I had to go back to my damn Quidditch team."

"Who was on the team that year?" he wondered, turning around to look at her.

"Well me, of course… our Seeker was Angelique D'Arc, we had Rachel Adams and Pete Wellington for beaters, and April Summers, Erin Abercrombie, and… Evan Thomas as chasers," she said slowly, watching his face.

He couldn't help himself when his eyes darkened even more—which he was sure Vic was pretty sure couldn't happen. But it did, he could see it reflected in her face when he met her gaze.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't talk about it," he said, shaking his head gently. "Let's hear about the moments with the unicorns."

Teddy didn't understand it. He could remember his Grandmother taking him to a specialist at St. Mungos, just to know if there were any other cases like Teddy… But there weren't. His father was the first werewolf to actually father a child, at least, so it was documented. She took him several times, in fact, and he could remember each of them, even the ones from when he was so young, just a baby. Or perhaps, they all blurred into one in his mind…

He was the only of his sort. Mood swings into dark, obnoxious, angst were only things that happened to him. Eve Vic's Dad, who'd been bitten by a werewolf not in his wolf form, didn't have the same tendencies that Teddy did. Bill's only issue was that, during the full moon, he didn't sleep, and he usually could be seen eating a steak that had been cooked for all of three seconds. So Teddy was the only one.

He stood by the window, the light of the moon in his eyes. It was big tonight, full and low. The silver orb hung in the indigo summer sky, veiled by stars and early evening mist. Vic was still sitting on the bed, and he could feel her eyes on the back of his neck.

He could explain himself, but there was some feeling within him that wanted to go off on her. He didn't even know why he was angry, but he knew that he was. And that was why he fixed his gaze on the moon. If he didn't have something to focus on, he was going to regret it.

Suddenly there was movement behind him. He dug his fingers into the window sill, willing her to sit back down.

"Teddy," she said gently, her hand on his back. He flinched when she touched him, not sure if he wanted her anywhere near him. She rubbed in between his shoulders for a minute, her fingers gently brushing the top of his t-shirt.

"I need to know something," he said stiffly.

"What?" she asked gently.

"When you were with _him _did you still love me?" he asked, his teeth grinding together, his voice rough.

She stared at him for a moment, swallowed and then said, "Yes, Teddy. I've loved you since I was thirteen, probably earlier. And I haven't stopped. Not even for a moment."

"Then _why _did you sleep with him?" he demanded, turning quickly. He hadn't been able to express his feelings before, because the rational him understood. But this was irrational Teddy, and all of the feelings about this that he hid, bubbled to the surface.

"Teddy…" she said gently. "I just… I was lonely."

"Loneliness is not a reason to be a hussy, Victoire. It's not reason to be a slut," he said acidly.

She flinched at his words, but kept her ground. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever," he said, rolling his eyes. "Not that lonliness didn't make you stupid anyway."

"Teddy," she said. "Remember yourself."

He just rolled his eyes again. "Shut up, will you?" It wasn't the playful shut up, like he had said earlier. It was heartfelt and awful. He saw her flinch, and he laughed at her. She was quiet, like he asked.

"Do you even get it?" he said. "Why did you let yourself fall to pieces, huh? That was just plain idiotic, Victoire. What because I didn't send an hour every other hour? Oh well, curse me, hex me, whatever, I had a life you know. And you were a schoolgirl. We couldn't spend every waking moment together anyway.

"But from what I gather, you basically let that ruin your life. And now I'm supposed to take the blame, because you weren't strong enough to deal with a year apart? Meanwhile, you shag someone else… just because you're lonely. D'you think I might've been lonely too Vic? But you didn't see me springing into bed with the first woman that looked at me twice—and mind you there were women that looked at me twice. Some a far sight better looking than yourself."

She kept her gaze locked on his, though he could see that his words were starting to cut deeper with every pass. He laughed again.

"And the worst part is, the entire time I was out there, I was thinking about how much I loved you and missed you, and felt bad for hurting you. Did you ever think I couldn't write maybe? Clearly not. You just assumed I was done with you because Evan Thomas wanted you to be done with me. Interesting, interesting, interesting. And now your father hates me, and most of your family is angry at me—like all of this is completely my fault… and not at all yours, even though you clearly have no ability to control your own emotions… fancy that, fancy that. Dear god. Are you stupid, Vic? Never impressed me as stupid, but if you managed to contort this into the end of the world, then you must be. There's not other explanation for it. So guess what. I don't give a fuck if I hurt you, because you hurt me too. And you let yourself be hurt even more. So shut up. Thank you."

Vic stared at him for a moment, and he managed to keep his gaze on hers. Her lip trembled, and he could see the tears in the corners of her eyes. And suddenly she was sobbing in front of him, tears pouring out of her eyes. And Teddy, though he would hate himself for it later, actually felt satisfied that he had hurt her.

He watched stonily as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. He didn't feel bad. Because the Vic he knew and loved didn't let his words hurt her. She would get over it.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11.

Vic felt a soft hand brush her hair, and she rolled onto her back, peeling her eyes open one by one. Teddy was standing next to her, his hair back to the attractive chocolaty color, his eyes green again.

"Hey," he said, looking very out of place in Lily's purple bedroom.

"Hey," she said sitting up.

"I'm so sorry," he said, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arms around her.

"It's all right," she said. "You weren't yourself."

"That's no excuse," he said. "I didn't mean any of it, Vic."

"I know," she said, putting her arms around him too as he nuzzled her neck.

"I love you," he said, pulling her closer to him.

"I love you too, Teddy, truly," she said, kissing him gently on the lips. He rested his head on her shoulder, rubbing her back.

"I'm such a prick," he said.

"You still lying," she said. "So shush, all right?"

He laughed a little. "I don't deserve you, you know."

"Nah, it's okay," she said, shaking her head.

He kissed her forehead. "I have to go to work."

"You didn't sleep last night," she said. "You'll be worthless."

"Harry knows that," he said. "But I'm going anyway. And he told me it's okay if I drop asleep on my desk. I have an excuse."

"All right," she said. "Wait let me brush my teeth so I can kiss you goodbye."

He laughed, but grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving the room. "Hold still, Vic."

He pulled her mouth open and pointed his wand in there. Suddenly her mouth tasted like fresh mint. She grinned at him and stretched up to press her lips to his.

"Mm," he said. "Maybe I won't go to work."

He knocked her back so that she was sitting on her bed again, and he sat next to her, pulling her close. He wound his fingers through her hair and started to kiss her neck.

"Um…" Lily said from her bed. "Hi, I'm still here, Teddy… Vic?"

Teddy laughed against Vic's lips and pulled away. Vic grinned at Lily.

"Sorry, Lils," Teddy apologized, laughing a little.

"Yeah, yeah," Lily said, covering her head with her sheet. "Just don't… just… kiss her goodbye already and go."

Teddy laughed and kissed Vic once more. "I'll see you later love, have a good day."

"Thank you, you two,' she said. "Catch lots of bad wizards for me, you know the deal."

"Oh yes," he said. "I will, I promise."

She laughed and he kissed her on the nose before walking out of the room.

"Why don't you two just get married already?" Lily demanded.

Vic laughed. "Because we're getting to know each other again."

"James said he's pretty sure you know each other _real _well at this point," Lily said.

"Do you have any idea what that means?" Vic wondered, cursing her Potter cousin for spreading all sort of tosh about her and Teddy.

"Yes," Lily said. "I live with James. He explains everything in graphic detail. Believe me."

"James is fourteen and a prick. Take everything he says with a grain of salt, Lils," Vic said, shaking her head and getting up off her bed. She headed down the stairs to find Ginny and the obnoxious oldest Potter sitting at the counter.

"Good morning," Ginny said brightly.

"Morning, Aunt Gin," Vic replied, plopping into the chair next to James.

"How was Teddy last night?" Ginny wondered. "he seemed really upset about something this morning, and I know you walked out of his room…"

"Oh, he was just being his usually full moon induced self," Vic replied. "Nothing out of the ordinary. I've just forgotten what it's like, I suppose."

"I can see how that would happen," Ginny said, shaking her head. "Well, he's apologetic, I know that much."

"I could tell," Vic said. "I forgive him, of course. He's not really himself."

"Exactly," Ginny said, nodding. She smiled at her niece. "So what are your plans for the day, Victoire?"

"I'm not sure," Vic said. "It's an odd summer… I suppose. I mean… I get to play Quidditch for my job in a week… I think that right there is awesome."

"Yes, I'm coming to your first practice," Ginny said. "Reporting, you know."

"Of course," Vic said.

"Well if you're not doing anything today… I really need to go into the _Prophet, _and…" she said, looking sideways at James.

"And you want me to watch the idiots because you don't trust James to keep them out of trouble," Vic determined.

"Oy!" James said.

"Oh shut up," Ginny said.

"Ouch," James said. "I always feel so loved, you know, just so loved."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "if you don't mind, Vic, it would be so appreciated.'

"I can do that," Vic said. "I'll keep them in line."

"Thank you so much," Ginny said, getting up off of her stool, pulling her hair back and turning on the spot.

"So you're all mine," Vic said to James.

"That's actually slightly worrisome," Albus said from where he sat, unnoticed by Vic before, on the sofa, reading some obscure book, as usual. James would fight to the death over it, but Albus was the clear intellectual of the family. No matter his devotion to following directly in the somewhat questionable path trekked out by his brother, Teddy,, uncle, father, grandfather, and the likes, before him.

"I know," Vic said. "Be afraid."

She rolled her eyes, and Lily finally emerged from the upstairs, freshly showered and yawning still.

"So Lily was planning your wedding last night," Albus said from the couch.

Vic laughed. "Why am I not surprised. Want to tell me what it looks like Lils?"

Lily shot daggers at her older brother. "Fine. Nana thinks you two will copy everyone else in the family and get married in the garden at the Burrow. I kind of agree with her. I mean, we all live there half of the time anyway. And Then I said you would look good in a dress with some sort of color with it, because solid white would wash someone with your hair and skin tones completely out. Or at least that's how I think you say it. Anyway, it would look like hell. And then you'd have your bridesmaids in some sort of purple because you always wear things that are purple. You like purple. And there will be lots of Violet's, which Teddy will put up with even though lots of flowers make him nauseas—he'll put up with it because you want it."

"Oh it's good to know I'm a demanding bride who doesn't really care about what her fiancé wants and makes it all how she wants it to be," Vic commented.

"Just you wait," Lily said.

Teddy sat in Harry's office, as paper airplanes whooshed over his head, many of which landed gently on Harry's desk.

"This is the list," Harry said, shoving it across the desk at Teddy. "And I have some bad news.

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "Bad news?"

"Antonin Dolohov, stunned and further incapacitated by Filius Flitwick in the Battle of Hogwarts on May the second 1998… has recently escaped from the no longer dementor controlled confines of Azkaban prison… Dolohov was charged with the murders of many muggles and witches and wizards during the first and second wars… including—"

"Remus Lupin," Teddy finished dully. "Are you kidding me?"

"No," Harry said. "I'm so sorry."

"How do people escape?" Teddy demanded.

'You know as well as I do that the protection of Azkaban, however terrible under the dementors, was also safer back then," Harry said gravely, pulling his quill toward him and starting to scribble on a piece of parchment. He whapped it with his wand and it folded itself into a paper airplane before zooming out of the office. Teddy started drumming on the table.

"I wanted to tell you first," Harry said. "I will be getting a team together in order to track down Dolohov and take him in again. I want to know from you right now, would your personal connection to this get in the way of your ability to perform this task to the best of your ability, in the correct way with no side… trips, if you will."

"Side trips?" Teddy said. "What a title for killing him in cold blood."

"Can you promise me?" Harry said.

"Yes," Teddy said, sighing darkly.

Harry reached across the desk and put a hand on his shoulder. "I understand that this is hard for you, of course."

"I never met my father, obviously…" Teddy said. "But… well let me ask you this… say Voldemort wasn't a major dark wizard and there hadn't been a prophecy… would you have still wanted to get back at him for what he did to your family?"

Harry nodded. "In truth that was always the driving force for me. I knew the whole wizarding world was counting on me, and sure that added considerable motivation, but in truth, I hated him one hundred times as much for what he took from me."

"So you understand?" Teddy said.

"I understand completely," Harry said. "Don't worry. Ron will be on this team. He won't let you do anything stupid. Draco will be there too. He has better ideas about this than anyone else."

Teddy nodded. "All right. Thank you for letting me know, Harry and thank you for letting me on this job, despite connections."

"In honesty, Teddy, I would've hated anyone that tried to keep me off this case, if I were you," Harry said simply. "I wouldn't keep you from it, because you're a lot like me. In the sense that you don't trust things to get done correctly unless you have a hand in them."

Teddy grinned. "That is true."

"Of course it is," Harry said. "I think it's because I practically raised you in tandem with your grandmother… when I was eighteen… that ought to have some influence, I feel. I was still very… stubborn, I think is the word. Still am, I guess. It doesn't exactly go away."

"I don't want it to," Teddy said. "Things go well enough this way."

"All right, go have your lunch," Harry said, waving out the door.

"Thanks," Teddy said again. "See you later."

He walked out of the office and headed back to his cubical. Already sitting on the desk was a duplicate of the file of Antonin Dolohov. In the cubical across from his, he saw Draco Malfoy talking with Andy Trooste about the file, both of them leaning over it. Draco looked over his shoulder and glanced at Teddy, then back to the file again.

Teddy opened it, duplicating the photo of the sneering Dolohov. He took the new parchment and stuck it to the side of his cubical. The glaring face looked down at him, looking quite unhappy. Teddy glared back at it, as if he could win a staring contest with a photograph. Perhaps it wasn't the most beautiful and esthetically pleasing decoration, but it was a good reminder. Dolohov was one of three reasons he became an auror. The other two were dead.

He sighed gently, leaning back in his office chair. After a moment of staring at the picture, Teddy stood up and walked to and have his lunch. It was better than staring at the portrait all day.

Ron caught up with him as they were walking down toward the lifts together. He slung an arm around Teddy's shoulder. "Looks like we're going to be working together, I see."

"Oh yes," Teddy said. He loved Ron. Ron was the comic relief when George wasn't around. He and Hermione were the perfect couple, who apparently bickered just as much in their school years as they did nowadays.

"this should be… fun," Ron said. "If fun is your word for it."

"I think fun is my word for it," Teddy said, laughing a little.

"I think it's a pretty damn good word for it," Ron agreed.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

"I'm disappointed," Harry said to Ginny, rolling his eyes and slamming his wand down onto the counter. Ginny put her arm around him.

"You can't control everything, dear," Ginny told him, rubbing his back gently.

"I know, I know," Harry said. "But it's unacceptable. It's been… twenty years… and they can't keep control over this? They're not used to it by now? We all thought there would be breakouts in the beginning, when we were still figuring out how to control everything without dementors… But now? Isn't there a system? I mean, the only Death Eater less intelligent than Dolohov are the Carrows… and yet Dolohov gets out… and Malfoy stays in? I don't understand it…"

Teddy and Victoire watched the rant in the kitchen. Harry was furious. Apparently the collected façade he had shown Teddy at work was his professional face. The rumor was, he was in the Magical Law Enforcement Head's office, in the minister's office, in practically any related office in the entirety of the Ministry, before lunch. And apparently the minister and Harry had both had a lovely stern talking to the head guard of Azkaban. Which ended up being Mr. Shacklebolt—still minister after twenty years—and Harry shouting down the Head Guard's feeble attempts to make himself appear a little more competent.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find him then, if he's that much of a dolt," Ginny said soothingly, reaching up to smooth her husband's hair, which didn't oblige, as usual.

Teddy felt Vic's eyes on his face and wished he could turn away from her. She could probably, easily, see how stressed this was making him. His hand clenched the countertop, his eyes stared directly at his godfather. He clung to each of Harry's words.

"You have Draco on your side," Ginny said. "Think of it that way."

"I know, I know," Harry said. "But that would help better if it was his father.. who would be harder to catch, still, but honestly…"

"We'll get him," Teddy said strictly.

"I know," Harry said. "We have to."

"We will," Teddy said.

"Yes…" Harry said. "I like that attitude. We start tomorrow. Now… I need… a cup of coffee."

Ginny waved her wand and a mug filled itself with coffee. "Go sit down, calm down. You can read my article about the English National Team. It's on the coffee table."

"Will do," Harry said, flopping onto the sofa and grabbing her article.

"I'm going upstairs," Teddy said to Vic, standing up. She followed after him, sliding her fingers into his hand.

"Hey, you all right?" she asked him, as they walked into his bedroom.

"I'm fine," he said, shaking his head.

"You're lying," she decided.

"Yes I am," he said.

"You'll get him," she assured him, wrapping her arms around him.

"I hope so," he said, shaking his head. "We have to! He killed my father, Vic! It's because of him and Bellatrix Lestrange that I don't have a family."

"I know, I know," she said. "But… you do have a family, Teddy, don't you see it? I know what they did was horrible, but you do have a family. You have me, and Harry, Ginny, James, Al and Lils… You have the rest of the Weasleys too, you know that…"

"I know," he said. "But… I mean, it's not the same… Vic. I didn't have a mother or father.. . I had a grandma, Harry and Gin… I don't know… maybe it would be different if I had a mother and father. I always wonder that. Would I be different?"

"I like you the way you are," she said. "I don't see how you could've been much, much better. I love _you."_

He nodded. "I love you too… So much, Vic."

He looked at her face, brushing his hands through her hair. She kissed him quickly.

"More bad news," she whispered.

"Dear god," he said. "No…"

"My Dad and Mum are coming over for dinner," she whispered.

"Oh damn," he said.

"Don't worry, Dad won't come near you," she promised. "I won't let him. Believe me… I think you could take him, honestly…"

"All right," he said. "I think I can be civil…"

"You've never had a problem with that," she said. "It's always him. But as far as anyone is concerned, I've been sleeping in Lily's bed."

"Sounds like a plan to me, love," he said. "I can keep that up fairly simply, I suppose…"

"You suppose," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I suppose," he said finally.

Bill and Fleur arrived at six pm sharp, with Bill leading the way through the door, with Fleur right behind him in the shadow of his tall frame.

"Hi!" Ginny said to them brightly, ushering them in. They delivered their greetings to everyone including Teddy, whom Fleur hugged just as much as she hugged Al, James and Lily, and whom Bill just sort of gave a very curt nod, hands clenched at his side.

"Hey," Vic said to her parents, looking awkward over her father's shoulder. Her mother gave her a hug, and so did Bill. Vic breathed in his familiar scent, comforting, clean. Vic could almost smell the intelligence wafting off of him… But the stern side too, the parent side, dictating things she didn't want to her, trying to make her happy, trying to keep her from the one thing that she wanted most.

Teddy put his arm around her shoulders, absentminded, not thinking. Bill looked ready to lunge. Vic just nestled into Teddy's side, showing exactly why she had to move out. They already said, they just have to prove the love, and it would all be completely fine… Maybe.

"So," Ginny said when everyone sat down at the table. "How is work going, Bill?"

"Good," Bill said. "I have to head out to Pompei for a week, which should be somewhat interesting."

"How about you?" Fleur returned to Ginny. The three Potter children focused on their food, feeling like awkward intruders on a bad conversation, Vic was certain.

"Not bad," Ginny said. "I get to go to work with Vic next week, which should be fun. Visit my old pitch. My home pitch, if you will."

"Your home pitch is at Hogwarts," Harry contradicted.

"Yeah, yeah," Ginny said. "Hogwarts is my alma mater, I'll give you that, dear."

"What about Harry?" Bill wondered. "I heard about the breakout…"

"Yes, it's really bad," Harry said. "I've already got a team together—you know Andy right? He, Ron and Draco, Olivia Telemy, Kristine Smith and Teddy here. We're all starting tomorrow. We need to get this taken care of as quickly as possible…"

"Of course," Fleur said. "Are you excited, Teddy, for your first, big, job?"

"Yes , I am," Teddy said. 'It's nice to be back."

"We never heard exactly…" Fleur said. "Where were you? When you—"

"Heartlessly abandoned our daughter?" Bill finished in a whisper. Ginny kicked him in the shin and Vic shot him a glare. She saw Teddy flinch, but he didn't waver in his answering Fleur.

"I was all over, actually," Teddy said. "I set off from her and I was in Spain for a couple of days before I headed to the United Sates. I went down to Mexico and Bolivia, as well as Brazil… then Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand, China, India, Egypt, France, Norway, Russia… and then I started going in circles… around Europe and Asia, including bits of the very north of Africa."

"Wow," Vic said. Even she hadn't heard that. "You make me feel very culturally… inexperienced."

Teddy shrugged. "It was just a few days here and there… I don't know."

"And what were you doing again?" Bill wondered, his voice gruff.

"Some personal stuff," Teddy said, looking at his plate. Even Vic didn't know why he'd left. He just told her he had to.

"And did you find what you were looking for?" Bill wondered.

"Yes," Teddy said. "And then I came back here to find the rest of that."

"And what was _that?" _Bill wondered.

"Vic," Teddy said simply, smiling at Vic as he said her name. Bill, however, made a face. As much as he tried to hide it.

Teddy sighed. He looked to the side at Vic and then he looked at Bill.

"All right," he said. "Bill… please listen to me, for a moment."

Bill looked up at him, green eyes meeting green eyes, identical shades, Vic noted, just like hers and Teddy's… and hers and her father's. Bill opened his mouth. "All right, I'm listening."

"I love your daughter," Teddy said simply. "I love her more than anything—my job, my life, anything. She is the world to me. She is everything to me. I would be stupid to mess things up with her, and I will not let her go. Unless she wants to go, in which case, she's free, but until the moment when she turns me away, I'll be there for her. I hope you can understand that, because I have no intentions of leaving her, no intentions at all. So please, I ask you, accept this, because I love her as much as you do. You may think that's stretching it, that that's a lie, but it's true. Since we were kids, I loved her, as a friend then, and then when I was fifteen I loved her as more, and I have not stopped loving her, and will not stop loving her."

Vic was sort of melting. Her heart fluttered at her words, and perhaps she was a sap, but she wondered if he knew she felt exactly the same way as he did.

Her father, however, was not quite convinced. "You say you'll never leave her, but I have a problem with this, Ted. You've already left her."

"But I came back," Teddy said. "I couldn't stay away."

Bill shook his head. "it doesn't matter. You walked away. And now you exploit her, because she's depressed, and she missed you, and she thinks your some sort of cure. When you're really the illness. You're like a drug."

Vic glared at her father. "I'm glad that you think so much of me, Dad."

"Now…" Bill said. "I said nothing about you."

"Dinner was a dumb idea," Vic declared, looking at Teddy for backup. She was surprised to find her boyfriend glaring at her father. Vic wished she could reach up and cover his mouth, because she could see in his face that he was about to get defensive—of her, to her father. As much as it was endearing, she didn't think the best way to get on her father's good side was to argue. She tried to convey this to him.

"I think you don't give your daughter enough credit for her strength," Teddy said simply. Then he rose from the dinner table and took his plate, heading up the stairs.

Harry cleared his throat. The entire table looked at him.

"Well," Ginny said. "There's more chicken, if you all want some?"

"Thank you, Aunt Ginny," Vic said. "And thank you for coming, Mum, Dad. I don't think it was worth it… but I'm fine. I'm staying here. I think it's time I got a place on my own. Thank you."

Vic stood up and grabbed her plate too, following Teddy up the stairs. She heard her father stand up behind her and then her mother's voice.

"Bill, just let 'er go."


	13. Chapter 13

**_A/N: I'm really sorry if this chapter isn't up to my usual standards... I was running a fever while I wrote it, so there is a large potential for fever-induced nonsensical sentences... but I'm posting it anyway, and will edit if need be. Please review! Thanks!_**

Vic turned on the spot, her hair windswept, face flushed, eyes huge, excited. She yanked her hair into a ponytail, as soon as she was on stable ground, back in London.

It was a week since she'd seen her parents. They sent an occasional message along, but she was pretty much okay with the isolation. It was time that Vic became her own, self-controlled person. She didn't need their help anymore.

She looked down at her robes, which were twisted due to her haste in putting them on. Practice had run over a slight bit, and she was supposed to meet Teddy five minutes okay. He was waiting there at their designated meeting place—in her haste, Vic had over shot by twenty feet. She walked over to him, rolling her eyes as he saw her and tapped on his wrist, mimicking looking at a watch.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she said, rushing up to him. She stretched up onto her tiptoes to kiss him quickly on the lips. "I'm late, I know, I'm sorry."

"Five minutes is hardly late," he said, tucking a flyaway behind her ear.

"Okay," she said. "Let's see this place!"

"Sure," he said. "I told you a bit about it, it's in a building with two other witches and wizards, third floor of three, pretty open, very comfortable."

"Like I said, I want to see," she said, hooking her hand in his.

They walked across the street and he used his wand to get them into the house, explaining, "The realtor grants access to specific wands… Pretty easy, means she doesn't have to show up…"

"I can understand that," Vic said as they started going up the narrow set of stairs. One landing had a dark door, with a nameplate next to it, giving the name of its inhabitants. They headed up the next flight of steps, and then the next after that, to the apartment at the top. Teddy waved his wand in front of it, and Vic heard the lock click, letting in both of them. He flicked his wand again, and the entire apartment lit up.

On the street side, there were three massive, floor to ceiling arched windows. The living room, with its light wooden flooring was, was open and lit with the tall ceilings—as Teddy pitched to her, the benefit of being on the top floor. There was also a tall fireplace, dominating half of the wall.

"I love the main room," Vic said.

"The kitchen is through there, "he said, pointing to an open doorway. The kitchen was fairly small, with just enough room for a table for two, perhaps, with a checked back and white floor.

"And then," he said, going back out into the main room and leading the way to the door. "The bedroom…"

He flourished to the bedroom. Inside was a room that was somewhat small, maybe, enough room for a bed, a desk, and a dresser. But in the far corner, there was a wrought iron staircase, that spiraled up toward the ceiling.

"I'm Confused," Vic said.

"It goes to the roof," Teddy said. "Wizard installed and protected, so it's like a trap door without the leaking issues if it was made by muggles." He gestured for her to go up, and she stepped up the staircase carefully until she pushed open the door. He followed behind her, and they walked out onto the roof. It was flat, solid, but beautifully lit, comfortable, with planters full of plants—though they were dead, Vic could imagine them as a once very lively garden of sorts. She imagined it becoming so again.

"I love it," She said simply.

"I thought you would," he said, laughing a little.

"I love the whole place," she said. "When can we move in?"

"As soon as we want," Teddy said. "I've got the money they need, and we'll be fine on rent with our jobs. Honestly, the realtor was pretty sure the deal was sealed last time I was here. I just told her I had to run it by you first. Not that I doubted you would love it or anything.

"Awesome," Vic said. "We're going to live in our own place, while keeping up the pretense that I still live at Harry and Ginny's…"

"Exactly," Teddy said, laughing a little and wrapping his arms around her.

"Magic is amazing," Vic declared as she used her wand to maneuver the sofa they had been gloriously gifted by Andromeda into the apartment. The places was going to become a compilation of many different styles of furniture. Very eclectic, just the way Vic liked it. Everything was moved in, and the couch was the last piece, following in the bed before it, which had been twisted through the door by Ron and Hermione, who could compact a mattress until it was shockingly small.

"Yes it is," Teddy agreed, looking around their apartment happily. She settled the old fashioned red couch onto the oriental rug.

"And there we are," Vic said.

"We have to head out," Ron said, referring to him and his wife, as well as Harry and Ginny. "Hope you guys like the new place."

"Thanks," Vic said, hugging both of her aunts.

"We'll see you soon," Ginny said. "We'll have to save you from yourselves… lord knows neither of you can cook."

"Look, just because I never made toast in a muggle toaster before doesn't mean I can't cook," Vic grumbled.

"Well if that's _your _problem, you didn't know how to work a toaster, then Teddy must just not have known how to work a knife when he was chopping carrots," Harry said.

"There's a reason people use magic for everything," Teddy grumbled.

"We'll see you," Ginny said, shaking her head and walking out the door with the others on her heels.

"So," Teddy said to Vic, gesturing around the apartment. "What do you think?"

"I love it," she said, closing the distance between them. "And I love you."

"I love you too," he said, pulling her close and starting to kiss her.

"Do you want to Christen it?" she wondered.

"Christen has so many religious implications," he said. "Perhaps not the right word, but I'm all for it."

"All righty then," she said, pulling him in the direction of their new bedroom. He had her shirt off by the time they were there, pinning her down on the bed.

She would, if she had to say, say that their sex life was pretty damn good. Better than a lot of people's, it had to be. But she just had a hard time not kissing him all of the time, keeping her hands off of him when it was indecent to have her hands on him… And she was pretty sure he completely agreed with her, felt the same way.

She yanked his shirt over his head and he started to kiss her neck, tugging at her shorts. They both stopped grabbing at each other and gave each other a little assistance, sliding out of their shorts on their own accord.

"I love you,' Teddy told her, the same thing he said to her every day, several times every day.

"I love you too," she said as he unhooked her bra and tossed it to the floor. He put his hands on her breasts, sucking on them gently.

"Do you have any idea what you do to me?" he asked her, sliding her panties off of her hips, down.

"I imagine it's something like what you do to me," she replied, tugging at the waistband of his boxers, pulling them down. His erection pressed into her leg. He slid his mouth down her body, tongue and teeth dragging down her stomach, across her skin, around her bellybutton. He pulled her legs apart, sliding his hand in between them starting to stroke back and forth.

"What do I do to you, Vic?" he wondered his teeth grazing over her prominent hip bone.

"You make me absolutely crazy," she said.

"That's what I thought," he said, ducking his entire head between her legs.

"Fuck!" she said as he started to kiss her down there, sliding his tongue around on her.

Her fingers knotted into his hair, clinging to him as he continued to pleasure her in a way she didn't know was possible. Or at least, she didn't know it was possible for her to feel like _that. _She arched her back, her hips thrusting upwards.

"Hold still, love," he whispered, his warm breath causing her body to spasm a little. He continued to brush his tongue over her clit.

"Oh my god," she moaned. "Oh fuck… Teddy…"

"Did you like that?" he wondered, sliding up so that his eyes met hers again.

"Yes," she whimpered. "Yes…"

He pushed inside of her then, and she was dumbstruck, moaning again.

"You all right?" he wondered, gently kissing her neck.

"I'm amazing," she replied, clenching his shoulders in her hands.

He thrust against her, moving slowly at first, and then unable to maintain the slow pace, forced to speed up in pure desire. She moved her body in time with his, and then somehow, they rolled and she was on top of him, and then he was on top of her again.

She came first, due to the fact that he had already done so much to her. Her body rolled with waves of bliss, never ending, merciful, crashing waves of pleasure. She nearly screamed, her fingers in his hair again, holding on almost too tightly.

He thrust once more, but she pulled away, so that he was no longer inside of her. He grabbed her shoulders.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, desperation in his green eyes. He reached down to touch himself, to finish, but she grabbed his hand.

"Treat others the way you want to be treated," she said, opening her mouth and swallowing him completely. She was proud of herself for not gagging. She started to suck, running her tongue along him, sliding out and then sliding her lips back up again. He groaned blissfully, holding her hair in his hands.

She pulled away just as he came, coming all over her chest and shoulders.

"I love you," he told her, knotting his fingers into her hair.

"I love you too," she said, knocking him hard onto his back on their new bed. He put his arms around her, squeezing her close to him.

He buried his face in her hair.

"I'm so happy with you,' he told her. "I never want to see anyone else's face but yours. We could just live here forever, alone, never getting up, just staying in bed all day long. You and me."

"It sounds nice," she whispered.

"I feel bad for the people that will unknowingly eat here in the future," Vic said, sitting on the kitchen counter in nothing but one of Teddy's button downs that didn't quite cover her rear end. He stood in front of her, in his boxers, making eggs to the best of their untalented cooking abilities, while she concocted overly alcoholic beverages for the both of them.

"Why?" he said. "Your arse is covered… mostly."

"Mostly being the exact word I was thinking of," she said, swirling the small glass again, and then offering it to him. He looked speculatively into it and then knocked a sip back. He coughed, spluttering…

"No offense love, but that is awful," he said, shaking his head.

She made a face. "Come on!"

"I mean, I bet they would serve it in the Hog's Head…" he said.

She glared at him, taking the drink from his hand. She took a sip too, and coughed. "Ew."

"I told you," he said, shrugging gently.

"Ah well…" she said. "I play Quidditch. No one ever said I had to be a barmaid…"

"That is true," he said, finally dumping all of the eggs onto their plates.

"Let's see if you're an acceptable chef," she said, taking her fork and stabbing it into the pile of fluffy yellow scrambled eggs. She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully, while he watched on, expectant.

"How is it?" he asked eagerly.

She shrugged and his face fell. She smiled and swallowed, shaking her head.

"They're really good," she said. "I'm proud. I suppose this will be all we're eating for a while… I think this is as complex as we can handle."

"In terms of food, definitely…" he said.

"I was talking about food," she said, rolling her eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

Teddy and the others walked down the alleyway, each one of them as stealthy as the others. Ron gestured excitedly, and Draco translated the gestures of Ron into gestures that normal people could understand. Teddy and Andy exchanged exasperated looks and then walked around the side of the building, as instructed by Draco and Ron.

"This is stupid," Teddy muttered. "He hasn't been here for twenty years. He's not going to be here."

"I completely agree," Andy said, shaking his head. "but we have to check everything, I suppose."

Ron's small Jack Russell patronus scampered around the corner, the signal that they were going in now. Teddy flicked his wand, opening the door in front of them as they stepped into the building. Andy followed in Teddy's wake. The dingy room they stepped inside had not been entered by anyone of significance for a long time. Ron and his group came through the back, and Draco with his through the front.

Casting a spell, Teddy determined quickly that no one was there.

"It's empty," he announced, looking down at the floor, which was coated so heavily with dust that he and his comrades left footprints in it, as if it was snow. Cobwebs hung from the low ceiling, and the old, grungy couch was laid thick and apparently had become a nest for some sort of doxie hovel. Or perhaps just rats.

They flicked their wands, lighting up the room so that they could see better.

"Lovely little place, isn't it?" Draco said, heading toward the creaky, broken-looking staircase in the corner.

"Why hasn't the ministry just seized this place…?" Andy wondered.

"Well, Dolohov's mother was living here for a while," Ron said. "But apparently she flew the coop more than a good couple of years ago."

"Oh no she didn't, she's still upstairs in bed. Rather corpse-like, if you ask me, nice and dead," Draco said, poking his head back down the stairs.

"Charming," Kristine commented, making a face. Olivia laughed a little and darted up the stairs after Draco.

Teddy started to skim the house's surfaces, looking for any hints, helpful indicators as to where their criminal may have wandered off to… He skimmed the random photos in faded frames with broken glass and yellowed photos that still moved. He pulled open drawers, scaring away spiders and the like.

He pulled out a bound leather journal, opened it up and started to skim through the pages. Deeming it worthless, he shoved it back into the drawer from whence it came.

After an hour of poking around through Dolohov's old house, the band of aurors stepped out into the sunlight. All of them blinked as if they hadn't seen light, and gasped as if they hadn't breathed fresh air, in years.

"Well that was… fruitful," Ron said, wiping at his forehead with his hand. "I say we take lunch now, yeah?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Teddy said, looking up at the sky.

"And Mrs. Dolohov?" Ron said, looking over at Olivia.

"The Mungo's coroner is on his way," she replied. "Kristine and I will hang out and wait for him."

"Thanks," Ron said, checking his watch. He looked around, shrugged, and then turned on the spot. The others one by one mimicked him, disappearing. Teddy turned too, arriving back at his apartment for lunch.

Vic wasn't there. She was at her practice. The apartment was their home, and he could see her influence emanating from every corner. His favorite thing was the massive, old map she had hung up on the wall in the living room, with shining dots spattered across it—the red dots were his, the places he had been, the purple were hers, and the green, which sometimes overlapped with his, were the ones they wanted to go to together.

He smiled to himself, heading into the kitchen to find the fixings for a sandwich. He was still trying to find the perfect way to make things up to her, because he saw it in her face every day he went to work, that it hurt her to watch him walk away. And that made him feel… moderately horrible, actually. Like he was the biggest idiot to walk the earth—and he was, he was pretty sure. He shouldn't have left her, and he didn't know how to fix things, how to not see that doubt in her eyes on occasion…

He knew that Bill was right in a million ways. He wouldn't blame Vic at all for wishing to stay away from him. It would crush him, but he would accept it.

He loved her so much though. Beyond anything in the entire world. He always hoped she knew that. He wasn't sure if she did.

Slapping together a sandwich, he settled at the kitchen table, looking at the copy of the _Prophet_ on the table. It was open to the Quidditch section, Ginny's article on the Harpies of this season open. There was a picture of the first string of the team, Vic standing on the left, leaning on her broomstick. She looked so happy, and he was so proud of her. She had made the dream's she'd had since she was ten years old come true. He knew how hard she had worked for it—just about as hard as he had worked to fulfill his dreams.

Vic swooped and caught the quaffle easily in her hands. Rolling her eyes at the seeker, Diane, Vic tossed it back to one of the chasers.

"This is not good," Diane said. "Or maybe it is… I don't know, either our chasers suck, or our young little keeper is far too good. The first would be bad, the second good… very good."

"I think she's just too good," Quinn complained. "That's not fair… You're making us look bad, Weasley."

"Sorry!" Vic said. "I'm just trying…"

"Don't apologize for being talented, Weasley!" Avery shouted from where she was flying above all of them.

"All right then," Vic said, shrugging.

They practiced for a little while longer, until the stands started to fill up. As was somewhat common practice, friends and family came to watch parts of the practice. Diane's fiance, a Puddlemere United beater, was sitting next to Ginny, who was on Teddy's right. He was watching her carefully, his gaze tilted upward.

"That one's yours right?" Casey the beater asked me, pointing down at Teddy.

"Oh yes," I said.

"He's pretty good looking," she commented.

"He's a metamorphmagus. He better be good looking," Vic said.

"Well that's cool!" she said. "I'm officially jealous. You could get him to become whatever the hell you wanted…"

"That's only if he listens to requests," Vic replied, shaking her head.

"Well, request something," Casey prompted, waving her hand excitedly at Teddy.

"Hey, love?" Vic called, laughing a little. "Love, can you change your hair for Casey here? She wants to see if you're a legitimate metamorphmagus."

Teddy frowned and his hair instantly became dark teal. Casey laughed happily. "Amazing!"

"I suppose we're calling it a night," Avery said. "You all worked very hard today, ladies, now go hang out with your families. They clearly have missed you very, very much."

All of them laughed and landed quickly, heading toward the stands.

"Hey, love," Teddy said, putting his hands on her waist and drawing her in for a kiss.

"I'm all sweaty,' she said. "You don't want to…"

"Don't tell me what I do or don't want to do," he said. "You could be covered in mud and gunk and I would still want to kiss you. I always want to kiss you. You're always beautiful."

He pulled her closer and started to kiss her again.

"You two really need to work on your actions in public," Ginny decided. "Not everyone in the world wants to watch you shove your tongues down each other's throats, believe it or not."

Teddy laughed, pulling away from Vic finally. She pouted at him a little, and they were joined by Avery who walked up in the jeans and the casual robe she had worn to fly above all of them in practice. Her husband, who knew Ginny from school, though he graduated after her second year, joined her, his arm hooked through hers.

"So you're Teddy," Avery said, smiling brightly. Vic watched as she extended a slim hand to shake Teddy's.

"Yes, I'm Teddy," Teddy said, grinning.

"Well I'm happy that you're with Vic. No offense, hon, but you were pretty down earlier, when we were first getting to know you. If you weren't such a damn good keeper anyway, I probably wouldn't have let you on the team because of it. So I'm glad you've got this guy. He cheered you up a lot."

Vic looked out of the corner of her eye at Teddy, who was visibly flinching at the words out of Avery's mouth. He looked like they caused him physical pain.

"I like him," Vic said simply, hooking her hand in Teddy's. He smiled a little at her, but was horribly distracted all of a sudden. Avery frowned, and left them to go join Diane and her husband and Diane's fiance.

"Hey," Vic said, reaching up to touch his face. "It's all right, Teddy."

He shook his head. He pulled his face away from her hand and stepped away. She gripped his hand.

"Why do I even think I deserve you?" he wondered.

"Teddy…" she said, squeezing his hand. She tried to draw him in. He shook his head.

"I don't…" he said. "I'm going home, Vic."

"You better be there when I get back or I'm going to kick your ass!" she informed him strictly.

He actually grinned, which was her goal. "You want to duel with an auror, Vic?"

"I'll take my chances," she returned, hands on her hips.

She tromped to the locker room, rolling her eyes, and pulled on her muggle clothes and regular robes. She locked her broom carefully in her locker and walked over to the door to apparate away.

Teddy was sitting on the couch when she walked through the door.

"Are you happy?" he asked her gently.

"No," she said. "I'm miserable. Absolutely miserable, Teddy."

She rolled her eyes, and settled next to him, putting her arms around him. "I love you, Teddy."

"I don't deserve you," he said, shaking his head.

"Even if you didn't, it wouldn't matter," she said. "Because I want you, and you want me, and that's that. That's all that matters."

He nodded and hugged her close. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said. "You're amazing, Teddy."

He laughed a little and kissed her forehead.

"Thank you for being here so I didn't have to kick your arse," she said. "I probably would've lost."

"I'd probably have let you win," he said.

"That's really great to know," she said, shaking her head. "How was your day, Teddy?"

"Nothing, yet again," he said gravely. "We're getting nowhere.'

"I feel like he'll show his face," she said. "I don't see how he can't. He'll have to before long."

"I suppose so," he said. "Some of them are just good at this though. The evasion. It's why we have aurors, I suppose, and aren't just sending out anyone to do the job. Aurors are a lot better at figuring these things out in comparison."

"I would hope so' she said. "It's your job."

"That is an extremely valid point," he said, laughing. She liked that she had cheered him up. He seemed happier in general at this point. That was wonderful.

"You know, let me take a shower, and then we'll figure out dinner," she said, kissing his cheek. "Maybe we'll eat something other than eggs tonight?"  
"I thought you liked the eggs?" he questioned.

"Yes, yes," she said. "I like the eggs. The eggs are wonderful."

"I'll make them different tonight," he said. "I'll make omelets."

"Oh, that actually does sound good," she said, laughing a little.

"I told you," he said. "You like the eggs."

"I like the eggs!" she admitted, laughing.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Author's Note: I am so sorry for this. It is possibly the worst written thing ever. But I hated this chapter. I'll edit later though, I just want to get on with the rest of the fic at this point. Please review! Thanks!**_

Vic was home alone. She knew there were a million things she should be doing—cleaning, shopping, something. But the concept of sitting on the couch, or out on the roof, and reading all day… well it was shockingly appealing to her.

She sighed. She had to go to Diagon for a really short amount of time, and then she could come back and clean something. Or something. If she felt like it.

She rolled off of the couch and landed on her feet, shaking her head. She found her robes and pulled them on before apparating from inside their apartment. She landed in front of the Leaky and went inside, heading back toward the brick entrance.

Life was sort of boring when she didn't have Quidditch practice and she no longer lived at home. She couldn't gab with Louis and Dom about nothing, or even her mother. It was just her and the quiet.

Maybe she missed home, a little. She missed her siblings and she knew her father was still furious with her. She didn't really know how to deal with that. She wasn't going to apologize. He had ground Teddy so far down into the dirt that it wasn't even fair. Bill had to accept that Teddy Lupin was going to be in her life.

Things between Vic and Teddy had been unavoidable. The entire extended Weasley family, including all of their family friends, knew that one day Teddy Lupin and Bill's eldest would end up together. It was clear even from the beginning, when she was a baby. Teddy had, apparently, took one look at Victoire in Fleur's arms and said, "It's not that ugly." And Harry had just said, "Watch him marry her."

Sure they had a bit of rough area. One where he disappeared for awhile. But they had never broken up. They were always still together. Technically. Bill could see how much she loved him… why would he try to keep her away from him?

She sighed gently, heading down the bustling Alley. It was just as magical as every time she was there. Brightly colored treats stood in bins outside of their respective stores. Random magic supplies were stacked high, waiting to be selected. Witches and wizards brushed past each other, shouting, not muttering, apologies. Vic wondered for a moment if she'd ever seen an unhappy person in Diagon Alley.

She headed toward the Magical Menagerie for treats for Teddy's owl, Aesop, who was usually not home and preferred to fly and be of very little service to his owner, but who had decided to take an extended stay with them this week.

Once inside the store, Vic found what she was searching for and waited in line behind a man with a coughing pygmy puff—and the witch behind the counter truthfully had no idea how to help him.

"But you don't understand, I need to know if it's dying! It's my daughter's favorite thing!" the man begged desperately.

"Then I recommend you go and talk to Mr. Weasley, down the street," she said simply. "He'll know how to deal with it. He did come up with the blasted creature. And once he tells you, please come back here and let me know what I ought to do about other coughing pygmy puffs, please.'

The man nodded and shuffled out of the shop with his pink pompom ball, and Vic stepped up to the counter.

"How can I help you love?" the witch asked, putting on her cheery face.

"I just need to buy these," Vic said, putting the large box down on the counter. Suddenly, springing up was a cat with the longest legs Vic had ever seen. It was small, with huge ears, and tortoise markings and big green eyes.

"Toby, come on, come on," the woman said as he started to paw at the box. She scooped him up in one arm and held him in her armpit. He mewed playfully, swatting at her wisps of silvery hair. She made a distressed face.

"How about a cat?" the woman asked of Vic. "Please dear god, tell me you want a cat! He's driving my rat's crazy. He just watches them all day long, never trying to strike. Just watching. All of the time."

"He's adorable," Vic said, smiling. "But I would have to check with my boyfriend."

"Oh come on, love," the witch said, begging now. "I've been trying for a week, and every young witch like you says 'oh he's cute' and make some excuse not to take him. I know he's a nightmare… but dear god… your boyfriend will love him. And if he doesn't you can bring him back!"

Vic looked at the Kat who was purring like a motor, waggling his long legs through the air as if he was trying to swim through it.

"Please," the witch said. "I'll even give him to you for free."

"Free?" Vic said, looking at the cat who was now settled in the woman's armpit, his legs dangling limply like pieces of tortoise rope.

"Oh lord," Vic said. "I want a basket for free too."

The woman laughed gleefully and shoved the cat headfirst into a wicker basket, latching it up with a satisfied smile. "You can have the owl treats for free too!"

Vic sighed, wondering what the hell she'd done. Teddy was going to kill her.

She tucked the basket under her arms and went to get quills. She had to keep stopping and repositioning with the basket, because the cat couldn't hold still and just shifted its body around in there all of the time. She got quills and ink, and a few rolls of parchment, tucking them all under her arm.

Finally, she headed out of the Alley, walking home so she didn't splinch her new animal companion. She'd never had a cat before, and this was slightly worrisome. She imagined this wild one was maybe not the best one to start with either.

Thankfully, she and teddy didn't live that far from Diagon. She had to walk with the shifting cat several blocks home. He was clearly incapable of sitting still. When she got to their building, she let herself in the main door and started traipsing up the steps. Reaching their landing, she realized that their door was open. She shifted everything around, pushing it open the rest of the way.

"Teddy?" she called gently, setting her new cat and all of her other purchases down just on the floor right inside. She pulled her wand carefully from the pocket of her robes.

"Teddy?" she repeated, more loudly this time. She held her wand in front of her. Stepping more carefully inside, she looked around. Something was off. Walking in further, she saw the drawers in the commode in their living room were hanging open, stuff hanging out of them. She frowned. She looked to the left, turned and saw that, pinned to the map on the spot where London was, was a small piece of paper. Before Vic could pull it off, there was a creak behind her.

Heart racing, she whipped around, her wand arm swinging through the air. Standing behind her was a man, tall, wearing a dark cloak, his hair slicked back, a beard on his face. He lifted his wand, and just as Vic had time to react, he shot a jet of light at her. She slipped quickly to the left, and the spell hit the map, scattering in flameless sparks of light. She shot back at him, a stunner, which he avoided and returned. She shot after him, but he ducked out the door.

She stared after him for a moment, and suddenly, the fear was sinking in on her. She darted to the door, closed it and locked it with her wand, sealing it tightly behind her. She waved her wand around her head, shooting off protective spells. Then she conjured her patronus, told it her message, and sent it in two directions. The eagle soared through the solid glass window easily, disappearing.

Victoire settled on the couch and started to hyperventilate, noiseless terrified tears pouring out of the corners of her eyes.

In a moment, someone was knocking on the door, three knocks, gently. She stood up, looked out the peephole and then pulled it open.

"Honey…" her father said, wrapping her up in his arms as soon as he could see her. "What happened, Victoire?"

"I just came home and, someone was in here," she said, her voice quiet. She reached up to brush away her tears.

"Oh my god… are you all right?" he said, looking at her arm. She didn't realize that one of her visitor's spells had caught her shoulder, leaving a large, red and bloody gash at the top of her arm.

"I didn't realize," she said, her voice starting to shake. He pulled her over to the couch and sat her down.

"Does it hurt?" he wondered.

She bit her lip and shook her head. "Dad…"

"It's all right," he said. "Don't worry…"

"Dad…" I said. "I'm…"

He put his arms around her. She was surprised that he hadn't commented on her new choice of lodging. But she was just happy to have him there. It made her feel all right again, safer, okay.

The door opened again, and Teddy appeared, his face flushed. He hurried over to the couch and wrapped his arms around Vic, almost pulling her away from Bill.

"Are you all right?" he demanded. "Who was it?"

"I don't know," she said, pressing her forehead against his shoulder.

"What happened to your arm?" he said, his fingers pulling at her sleeve. He tugged her out of the robe and brushing his fingers around the cut.

"He got me," she said, shaking her head. "Oh my god, Teddy."

Bill watched carefully as Teddy rocked her gently for a moment.

"You're all right, love," Teddy said gently, kissing her on the forehead. "You're all right. I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"I got a cat," she said suddenly, standing up.

"You what?" he demanded, pulling away from her for a moment.

"He was free!" she said, bouncing away and grabbing the basket from the door.

He shook his head. "You got a cat."

"His name is Toby," she announced.

"Oh lord, love," Teddy said, putting his arms around her again. "I don't care about the cat. All I want to know is if you're all right. Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm just a little shaken," she said, shaking her head.

"Let's fix your arm up," he said, getting out his wand.

"Let me," Bill said, reaching in. "I've done this before."

Teddy looked up at him and then at the gash in Vic's arm. "That's probably a better idea. I've done it too… but I'll let you."

He moved to sit next to Vic, putting his arm around her gently and kissing her cheeks while her father worked at the gash on her shoulder.

"Can you get the cat out?' she wondered. "He has to be going crazy."

"I can do that," he said, bending down and unlatching the basket. The cat sprang forth, his long legs catapulting him instantly into Victoire's lap. For the first time since she'd seen him, he settled down, getting comfortable in her lap.

"He's a little odd, isn't he?" Bill wondered.

"I think he's adorable," Vic replied.

Vic looked up at Teddy, and he smiled, reaching over to scratch behind the cat's ears. Bill worked on her arm for a minute, and the three of them were silent.

"What did he look like, Vic?" Teddy asked after a while.

"He was very tall," she said. "Dark hair, dark eyes, goatee. Kind of a dark looking guy…"

She watched him think for a moment. "I have no idea…"

"It doesn't matter," she said.

"Yes it does," Teddy said. "He went through our stuff. He hurt you. I won't exactly sit by while someone hurts you, Vic. I'm incapable."

Her father set his wand down, proud of his rudimentary healing skills.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16.

"He left this," Vic announced, reaching up to unpin the piece of paper from their map. Teddy took the folded up piece of paper from her hand as Bill helped by entertaining the cat. Teddy unfolded the note and smoothed it out gently. The only things on the piece of paper were the words "I'm in London now. I just missed you."

"Who is it from?" Vic wondered, peering over his shoulder.

"I'm not sure," Teddy said, shaking his head. He closed the drawer he had been reorganizing. He was lying, of course, but she didn't need to know that. Not in front of Bill.

"Did he take anything?' she asked, hooking her hand in his.

"I'm not sure…" he said again, taking a deep breath and sliding his arm around her waist. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."  
"I suppose so," she agreed.

"So how long have you been living here?" Bill wondered, finally asking the question teddy was sure they both had been anticipating.

"A while," Vic said simply, turning back to the couch to appease Toby, who was relatively in love with her. The cat was obsessed with his new friend.

"Oh," Bill said.

"Yeah," Vic said as Toby climbed all of his long-legged self into her lap and practically dancing in a circle.

"You should have told me," Bill said. "that you were moving. I would have helped. I would have gotten your brother over here too…"

"It's okay," Vic said. "It was relatively simple. Besides, you wouldn't have been that pleased about it, I don't think."

He nodded, staying silent. "Well I ought to be going. Are you sure you're all right, honey?"

"Yes," Vic said. "I'm fine. Thank you for coming, though. I really needed you."

"You're welcome," he said. "I would come anytime you needed me. I will. Just send me a message, honey."

"Thanks, Dad," she said, hugging him quickly. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked out of the apartment, leaving them there alone.

Vic sighed, leaning back on the couch. "What a fun afternoon."

He put his arms around her holding her close. Toby started pawing at his arm. "I don't know, it's a bit exciting, to say the least. I mean… we got a cat."

She laughed and reaching over to scratch their new friend's ears.

"You can't deny he's adorable," she said, shaking her head.

"He is," Teddy agreed. "So tell me how you ended up with a cat again, love?"

"Well…" she said, laughing a little. "I was in the Magical Menagerie, looking for owl treats, of course, and well… this cat lunged on the box and the witch there begged me to take him. For free. With a free basket. Anything to get him out of there, apparently."

"Oh now I think is going to be exciting," Teddy said as Toby jumped up and started to balance on his shoulder like an uncoordinated and slightly gangly parrot.

"I think so too," Vic said, laughing a little as Toby nearly toppled from Teddy's shoulder but retained his balance by digging his claws into Teddy's shoulder.

"Teddy?" she felt her voice cut through the night air in their bedroom like a sharp knife. It was just a whisper, and he didn't stir, but maybe tightened his arms around her.

"Teddy?" she repeated, more loudly this time. The noise even startled her, despite it coming from her own mouth.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up carefully.  
"I can't sleep," she said.

"Why not?" he wondered, stroking her hair. "Are you afraid?"

"I'm not exactly sure," she said. "I just can't sleep."

"Would you like me to keep you company then?" he asked, pulling her gently onto his lap and cradling her against his chest.

"Mm," she said. "Maybe. That sounds quite nice, actually."

He kissed her neck gently, burying his face in her hair. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said, breathing deeply. Down at the end of the bed, Toby was sleeping in the tightest ball Victoire had ever seen.

"Do you want to hear about my trip?" he wondered, rubbing her back gently.

"Yes," she said. "Tell me something about it.'

"All right…" he said. "Well it wasn't all that fun, just so you know. But it had its moments. I was in Australia with a mate of mine who lives down there, his name is Alexander. I'll introduce you to him sometime. We met at the ministry, because he was arguing with Percy one day when I went up to ask him something during auror training. It's hard to win an argument with Percy, and you know that, because he vehemently refuses to concede, even if you have him convinced of his wrong… But Alex was holding his own. He talked Percy into the dirt until I was nearly laughing in the corner. Percy called me a name that you wouldn't expect from him, and then left the two of us, Alex and I, alone in his office. We just laughed. And that was how we became friends. Anyway, he gave me tours when I was down there, told me where to go to do what I had to, and what I wanted to do.

"And we went snorkeling one day, just for the heck of it. It wasn't technically snorkeling, because we didn't have snorkels. Just gillyweed. But that's good enough for me. He took me to this place, saying that the others weren't as good as it. Something about how all the Muggle pollution of the world is destroying all the genuine and real magic that we have in nature and all that. I think the Muggles of this day and age would call him a tree hugger. But apparently, most coral reefs are dying, and therefore gray and not colorful, like you would think they would be. But this one was better.

"You wouldn't believe the colors, even if I took you there this instant and showed you. The sheer amazingness of it… it was a good break from the rest of the trip which was much less like a vacation than I care to remember, in all honesty," he said, stroking her cheek.

"It sounds amazing," she murmured, snuggling closer to him.

"Imagine that," he said. "The gentle rocking off the waves… all the brightly colored fish and the saltiness of the ocean, the fresh breezes off the Australian coast…"

She drifted in his arms, happy and content.

Teddy uncrumpled the note, still holding Vic in his arms as she slept peacefully. The morning sun was shining through the windows, bright and cheerful, beams of gold. His mood was splitting in two. On the one hand, there was this sunshine, and there was Vic. She was everything, she made it impossible for him not to be absolutely giddy almost all of the time. But the key word there was almost, and that meant, sadly, that that some of the time when he wasn't giddy, he was far from it. He was dark and angry and almost like his full-moon self, only when no moon was in sight. But that was only intensified, and brought to a much brighter, heavier light, by the break in and the note in his hand.

So much of him wanted to strangle anyone that dared to hurt Victoire. She was scared to the point of insomnia, not to mention the massive spell-induced gash on her arm. Anyone that had the guts to do that and think he could get away with it, would have another think coming if Teddy ever got his hands on him. Sure, Vic was all in one piece. She was intact. She was healthy and breathing and safe and okay. But that didn't change anything. She was still the most important thing in the world to him, and threatening her, or scaring her even in the slightest would result in a very angry Teddy.

He was glad to see Bill there when he came rushing home from the office. The guidance of the older man was always very welcome, even in his recent distaste for Teddy. If it wasn't an area concerning Teddy and Vic's love life, he was very astute and knowledgeable. Teddy had often regarded him as a father-like figure, making up the smallest leg of his already lopsided triangle of fathers: Harry, Ron, and Bill. When he was very little, Andromeda would always ship him off to Harry for looking after. Poor Harry was only a kid himself at that time. It left him with a hard job. So he often turned to Bill, who had his own child, Vic, on the way, or there, and he helped him out. Or Teddy was shipped off to The Burrow, which was another likely situation.

It sort of killed him that Bill hated him at this moment. Because he knew, for one thing, Bill wouldn't hate him if he didn't deserve it. Bill's feelings were probably completely justified. And that meant that Vic had been seriously depressed when he left.

He stuffed the note back into the drawer of his bedside table, and pulled Victoire into lap. She stirred gently and put her arms around his neck.

"Morning," she said, clinging to him gently.

"Morning," he murmured, pressing his lips to the hollow behind her ear. "Morning, love."

"It's early," she commented, burying her nose in his chest.

"Yes it is," he said. "Sorry I woke you.  
"Don't apologize," she said. "I don't care."

She snuggled up against him.

"I have a question for you," he said.

"Ask away," she said.

"Are you happy, right now, Vic?" he wondered.

"Blissful," she said. He hugged her close.

"What were you feeling a year ago?" he questioned.

"I missed you," she said.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It sort of hurt, not hearing from you," she said.

He pulled her in.

"But it's okay now," she said, giving him a tight squeeze. "I promise that it's okay."

"I hope so," he said, rubbing her back. "I don't want you in pain. I never wanted you in pain, Vic."

"I know you did," she said. "I never thought you wanted to hurt me."

"I didn't," he said, shaking his head.

"But, I have a question for you," she said.

"Ask it," he ordered.

"Did you… were you ever unsure about us?" she wondered, not looking up at him as she asked him that.

He took a deep breath. His brain was yelling at him, telling him not to tell her, but his heart was bickering with him, telling him he wasn't allowed to lie at her. He couldn't lie.

"Yes," he said. "There was a moment… right before I left… when I started thinking about things. You were seventeen and I was nineteen. I didn't know if that could ever work. You were young, and I felt old, like all the decisions that were important to my life had to be made instantly. I didn't know if I should hold out and wait and plan to include you in all of them."

She pulled him closer. "I understand."

"You don't have to understand," he said.

"But I do," she said. "I was a kid, and you weren't."

"I was still a kid. I still am, pretty much," he said. "But after I left… I just thought about you every day. I didn't know what to do, because I couldn't come home, and I thought you had to just hate me… that you'd moved on. And so I didn't. I just didn't write or come home. Instead, I just kept going, hoping you might forgive me when I came back, and you were done with school, and we could really make the life decisions. Together this time, believe it or not."

"I'm glad that you came back," she said. "And I forgive you. Just so you know."

"I like knowing," he said. "Thank you."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17.

The guys around the auror office were not accustomed to seeing veela women. Even if the women possessed only the slightest bit of veela blood. Though the aurors had seen a large number of things in their lives, they, like any men, reacted with awe and sudden adulation when in the presence of naturally surreal beauty.

So when Victoire showed up to Teddy's work after a post-practice shower, several of the you guys' jaws plummeted to their knees. Her hair was loose and wavy, falling down over her shoulders in pale blonde waves of corn silk. She was wearing muggle clothes under her robe, and she smelled something like a tropical vacation. Or at least, that was what Teddy imagined going through all of their minds when he saw her approach over the top of his cubicle.

She was oblivious, impervious, something. She strode between the rows of little offices, long legs brushing out under the robes, attracting almost as much attention as her face. She didn't look anywhere but directly at him, though heads turned and followed her.

She reached him and smiled brightly tossing her hair over her shoulder and jumping up to peck him on the lips. The peck turned into something a little more passionate as they sank lower than the level of the cubicle walls, settling together into his chair.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" he wondered , brushing her hair away from her face so he could look at her.

"An early end to practice," she said. "And I wanted to see where you work. Uncle Harry said I was allowed, so I just waltzed right in."

"And caught the attention of ever single male in the place, mind you," he said. "I feel like I should be jealous, except you didn't look at a single one of them.'

"There were other people here?" she teased, running her hand through his hair.

"Yeah and I very nearly hexed them all blind when they looked at you like that," he said.

She rolled her eyes. "Biased opinion, yeah?"

"No!" he said. "You should have seen them. They need to wipe the drool off their chins. I swear to you."

She shook her head and buried her nose in her neck. "How much longer do you have to work?"

"I can go now, I think," he said, looking at his watch. "Yes. I'm free. Happy and free."

"Don't sound so pleased about it," Harry said, walking by Teddy and Vic, laughing.

"You're going home too!" teddy accused.

"Yes, I know," Harry said, grinning.

The three of them headed toward the elevators.

"Did you draw much attention to yourself, Vic?" Harry teased her. "When you walked in here, every head in the place turned to look at you. Even the women, might I add.'

"I told her," Teddy said, shaking his head and putting his arm around her waist.

"Flattery, flattery, flattery," Vic sang. "You're just trying to get me into bed, I swear.'

"Well, I'm not," Harry said, laughing a little.

"Always a good thing, too, might I add!" Vic said to him, joining in his laughter.

"Want to come for dinner, tonight?" Harry wondered. "Get a real meal in you for once?"

"I think that sounds like a great idea," Vic said. "I can only eat so many meals of scrambled eggs."

"Hey!" Teddy said. "You like my eggs."

"I do like them," she awarded.

"Just not all the time," he assumed.

"Well no," she said.

"See this is what I live with Harry," Teddy said gravely. "Absolutely no appreciation for everything I do."

Vic snorted. "No appreciation my ass."

"Well we'll see you at our house at six, how about?" Harry said as they reached the point at which they had to part ways.

"That sounds good to me," Teddy said, taking Vic's hand. "See you, Harry."

"Bye," Harry said, turning and disappearing. Hand in hand, Teddy and Vic turned and landed spun through the air, squeezed tightly through the air until they landed outside of their apartment building. The two of them headed inside, going up the stairs.

"How was practice today?" he wondered.

"I fell off my broom," she announced.

"You what?" he said, touching her cheek. "Are you all right?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she said. "I was doing something I've only seen done once, by Tina Dinaj, the keeper from India? The best one in the world…? Needless to say, I understand why _she _is the only one who should do that."

"How far did you fall?" he wondered as he opened their apartment door. They walked inside and she tossed her robes onto the floor, which he followed with his. The two of them settled together on the couch, his arms around her.

"Just like ten feet," she said. "I landed solidly on the balls of my feet though. No harm done."

"Just making sure," he said. "Don't need anything happening to you. I couldn't bear it."

"How was your day?" she wondered, curling up against his side.

"Not bad," he said. "We haven't made any advancements though, and that's frustrating as hell."

"I'm sorry," she said, reaching up to stroke his cheek a little. "I have faith in you though."

"Thank you," he said. "We're trying."

"I know you are," she said, hugging him gently.

"I love you,' he said.

"I love you too," she said.

"Bloody hell you're so damn beautiful," he said. "That's all I could think when you came in today. You smell so good… Very clean and fresh and… just like you look, if you know what I mean?"

"I think I know what you mean," she said as he pressed his lips to hers. It took that simple meeting of their lips to push him over the edge. He knocked her onto her back, kissing her heatedly, his tongue sliding around hers.

Teddy had her up in his arms and on the bed in their bedroom shortly. As soon as her back hit the mattress, he was yanking her out of her shorts.

"I just love you so goddamn much," he told her, sucking gently on her neck, lips and teeth against her skin.

"I love you too!" she said, wrapping her legs around his waist. He pulled her shirt over her head so that she was exposed in the lacy black bra she was wearing underneath it. He was shirtless over the top of her.

And then there was a knock on the door.

She nearly clunked her head against his. And he rolled away from her onto his back.

"Go get it," he said. "Please. I need to think about dying cats or something before I can talk to anyone…"

She laughed a little as he closed his eyes.

"Or at least find out if it's anyone important, I wasn't quite finished."

She pulled on her shorts and tank top, heading out into the main room. She caught sight of herself in the mirror on the way out, and she laughed. If the rumpled mess that was her hair wasn't a sure indication of what she'd been up to mere seconds before, there were several other things about her that were probably good enough to do the job.

She looked out the peep hole to see no one but her mother standing on the other side of the door. Vic checked herself and sighed, pulling the door open.

"Hey Mum," she said simply, stepping aside so Fleur could whisk her way into the room.

"Victoire! How are you?" Fleur demanded wrapping her up in a quick hug. "Where eez Teddy?"

"He's in our room, he'll be out in a moment," Vic explained.

Her mother looked her up and down very carefully. "You look like you just rolled out of bed, Victoire."

"Sorry, sorry," Vic said, fluffing her hair out.

"You did just roll out of bed," Fleur concluded. "Lovely."

Teddy appeared in the door to their room, pulling his t-shirt over his head.

"Hello, Fleur," he said, as the mother and daughter sat down on the couch comfortably.

"Why are you here, Mum?" Vic wondered. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see you, but why are you here?"

"I just came to see your new place," she said. "Your father told me after ee was 'ere yesterday that eet's a nice little place. Are you happy 'ere?"

"I'm very happy here," Vic said, smiling. "It's comfortable."

"You've done a very nice job wiz eet," Fleur awarded. "Very well done. And you can afford zee rent?"

"Of course," Vic said. "We're doing fine."

Teddy settled down in one of the chairs, joining in on the conversation.

"And 'ow are you Teddy?" Fleur asked.

"I'm very good, thank you," Teddy said. "How is everyone at your house?"

"They're very well," Fleur said. "Enjoying zee summer."

"Of course they are," Vic said. "I suppose we should come out to visit soon…"

"Yes you should, Dominique and Louis would love to see you," Fleur said, smiling.

"How is Dad?" Vic asked.

"Ee misses you," she said. "Ee worries about you every single day. Teddy, ee has a hard time trusting you to take care of Victoire… She 'ad a rough patch, I'm sure you know, and Bill worries zat you would not know what to do eef Vic became depressed again…"

"Mum," Vic said. "I'm fine, really."

"I know, I know," Fleur said. "But your father worries. And ee 'as a right to worry! Ee loves you very much, Victoire. And ee was 'urt when we found out zat you 'ad moved without telling us. Ee says, just be smart and careful. And zat is all he wants."

"Does he forgive Teddy?" Vic asked carefully, looking at Teddy who looked slightly distraught at the conversation.

"No," Fleur said. "Sometimes I wonder eef ee ever will, Victoire. I doubt he will completely."

"Fleur," Teddy said. "Can I just say, to you, that I am… so exponentially sorry for what I caused, what I did. If I had known what was happening, I would have come back, I swear. I would have come back and made things better."

Vic looked down, embarrassed that they were talking about her. She always felt odd being talked about, especially if she was right there.

"But you couldn't know what was 'appening , because you did not write!" Fleur said acidly. Vic stared at her, watching Veela anger cross her mother's face, but quickly fade back into normal, ethereal beauty, away from the darker side of the veela. "But in the end, Teddy, I forgive you, truly. You 'ave always been like a son to me, and I know you did what you did because you 'ad to do it. I understand zat, I do. And I 'ave always thought zat you and Vic make an amazing couple, and I am 'appy to support you, and I 'ave 'oped for the longest time that you two will end up married. Always. I thought zat from the very beginning."

Teddy smiled. "Thank you, Fleur. Thank you so much."

"Of course," Fleur said. "You are 'appy, yes Vic?"

"Yes, Mum, so happy, you have no idea," Vic said. "I've never been happier than I am now."

"Zat is good," Fleur said. "Zat is so good. Now, I'm sorry to come and rush away, but I must get to Diagon Alley before Flourish and Blott's closes. Zey are 'aving a sale, and your father wants a certain book. I will see you soon, dear."

She leaned in and kissed Vic's forehead.

"Love you, Mum," Vic said.

"Love you too, Vic," Fleur said, smiling and walking out of the apartment.

"I always liked your mother," Teddy said when the door was closed. He smiled and opened his arms a little. Vic walked over and settled on his lap, letting him wrap his arms around her.

"I always have too," she said. "She just gets it."

"Getting it is always good."


	18. Chapter 18

**_Author's Note: I had several questions in reviews and from my friends who follow this fic, as to when the next citrusy chapter was coming... and this is it. Let me just say that this is perhaps my most PWP chapter. It's absolutely nothing but smut. Enjoy!_**

"What a long day," Teddy said, collapsing onto the sofa on his back when they walked on inside after dinner.

"It feels like it, doesn't it?" she agreed, smiling at him. She locked the door behind her and went into the bedroom, fishing around for something she bought not too long ago.

"James was in a state today," Teddy said. "I was going to kill him. Making comments left and right. I'm glad we moved out of there when we did, love. I probably would've hexed him to death by this point."  
She laughed. "Oh I know. You would've done it, or I would've. I think it was just time we got our own place, you know?"

"I agree completely," he said. "I like living alone with you. I could live alone with you forever. I mean, at least until we have our children…"

Vic smiled to herself, thinking about children. That made her happy. Of course, she was too young for that at this point. But the concept of having Teddy's children made her extremely happy. There was so much that was appealing about that.

"And then dear god, let's hope they're not like James," he said, his voice floating from the couch into the bedroom, where she was changing.

"Well… James is a lot like Harry, actually, though he has more cheeky comments than my dad says Harry ever had. But… you're also a lot like Harry… and well our kid would probably be a lot like you," she said.

"Oh dear god…" Teddy said. "I fear for the world. What are you doing in there, love?"

She heard him get up, walking across the floor. His footsteps approached the door. She turned around, just as he came in.

"Ah…" he said, his voice catching in his throat when he saw her, dressed in the tiny, lacy, very see-through red lingerie nightgown.

"Damn," he said. "Damn… Victoire…"

"I got bored and went shopping," she said. "Do you like it?"

She twirled in a circle, causing him to swallow and take a step across the floor. "Bloody hell Vic… I love it. I love you… You're absolutely gorgeous. I hope you know that."

"You tell me enough," she said, walking past him and sitting down on the bed. "Are you going to join me or what?"

She almost laughed at his expression. He sort of closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Yes, of course."

He pulled his t-shirt over his head and moved to sit next to her, starting to kiss her shoulder. He slid his hand up her leg, tracing his fingers up under the short nightgown, around on her thigh. He moved his kiss onto her neck, knocking her quickly onto her back.

"I love you," he whispered against her neck moving his hand that wasn't on her leg up so that it was touching her breasts through the thin material.

"And I like this," he said, balling the hem of the nightgown in his fist. He let it go and it brushed gently over her thigh. She reached down and undid the button his jeans, pulling them down carefully over his obvious erection. Once those were off, for the most part, he helped her pull off his boxers.

He pulled the nightgown up, over her head, casting it gently aside. Perhaps it was meaningless and shortlived, but she imagined it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He squeezed her arse, his other hand holding him up as he pressed himself against her, sucking on her breasts. She put her arms around his neck, her fingernails, which were growing back, clawing at his skin.

She was, she realized, so in need of him. Every time she so much as thought about sex with him, she wanted it then and there. At the moment, she arched her body upward, feeling him press into her leg.

The hand that was on her leg slipped in between, to the place where her thighs met. She moaned as he pressed his finger against her clit; he brushed it back and forth, sucking on her pert nipples as he did so.

"Teddy," she groaned as he slipped the finger inside of her. He slid her legs up so that they were on his shoulders, giving him easy access. He pumped his finger in and out of her, massaging her all over, getting one are happily stimulated, begging, and then abandoning it, leaving it wanting, as he moved to the next, just to repeat the same action.

"Teddy!" she said, struggling with her nails against his back.

"What?" he wondered, leaning into her legs until they were almost pressed back against her chest. He removed his fingers, leaving her wanting for a moment.

"Teddy," she said again, her voice quiet, begging. She hoped her plea was in her eyes. She could barely form words she wanted him so badly.

"What do you want Vic?" he wondered.

"Bloody hell, Teddy!" she complained loudly, moving her own hand, trying to get past his body to pleasure herself. He caught her hand.

"What do you want, Vic?"

"Fuck!" she said. "I hate you."

He laughed. "No you don't."

"I do!" she said, tears building in the corners of her eyes. "Fuck! Fuck me you arsehole. Fuck me until I can't even feel anything."

"Are you sure?" he said. "Because if you hate me, I can stop. I'll leave you alone with yourself."

"Damn you!" she shouted, the tears finally flying out of her eyes. "Please! Please… please… please…"

He kept his face serious as he finally pushed inside of her. She screamed in pleasure, clawing roughly at his back. She was peeved all of a sudden. She wanted to scream at him, tell him to never touch her again—except for how much she wanted him, how much her body needed him, cried for him.

He moved in and out of her, and she thrust her hips angrily in time, willing to come first so she could leave him in wait. As it would happen, with their working together, and the fact that they understand what the other wanted so well, they came at the exact same moment. He spilled himself inside of her and her body radiated with waves of crashing, rippling release and pleasure.

He collapsed half on top of her, and she shoved him gently on the chest.

"Get off," she grumbled.

He pulled away, rolling onto his side. He put his arm over the top of her.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked hoarsely.

She took a deep breath. It would be easier to think if she didn't feel so goddamn good. "No."

"I didn't want to make you upset," he said, brushing his lips across her shoulder.

"It was in the moment. I feel better now," she said. 'It was actually very… interesting."

"Was it?" he said, drawing her closer so that they were spooning.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Did you have fun?" he wondered.

"Yes," she grumbled, when she actually thought about it.

"You were angry," he accused.

"I think it was a good angry," she said. "I'm not sure. I've never considered begging, truly. Did it boost your ego to have me beg, Teddy?"

"I don't know," he said.

"It did," she inferred.

"I don't want to sound like an arsehole," he said.

"I kind of understand," she said. "Weird things turn people on, right?"

"What turns you on that's weird Vic?" he wondered.

"I'm embarrassed," she said.

"What is there to be embarrassed about," he said. "It's only me here, you know."

"I know…" she said, shaking her head.

He kissed her collarbone, dragging his lips and tongue across her shoulder to the back of her neck, her prominent spine. "Tell me love, give me some tips."

"I always imagined that I would get so… hot… watching you wank of," she admitted, burying her face in the pillow.

She felt his grin against her skin. "Really?"

"Yes," she mumbled.

He smiled. "That's not that embarrassing Vic."

"All right," she said, laughing a little.

"Are you upset with me for making you beg?" he wondered again, very unsure.

"No, not at all," she admitted. "Not looking back on it. It felt very good to finally have you… you have no idea…"

"I love you," he said, squeezing her close to him he brushed his hands around on her neck, kissing her, squeezing her, hugging her. Suddenly, she felt his cock grow, pressing against the back of your leg.

"That's not bloody possible," she said, appalled. "Aren't you completely spent at this point."

"it's you," he said. "You do insane things to me. Are you… too tired?"

"Let me watch," she said.

He laughed a little, pulling away.

"I have a question first," she said as he knelt up on the bed so she could see better.

"Ask,' he said, grasping himself in his hand.

"Your metamorphosing powers… do they help you with the size thing?" she wondered.

"Yes," he admitted.

"So are you really _that _big?" she wondered.

"What's your definition of really? It's here, plain as day. Real," he said.

"It's just… insane," she said.

"Would you like me to shrink it?" he wondered.

"Hell no," she said. "I was just curious. Now go ahead, I know you want to…"

She watched him as he worked with practiced hands, pulling, twisting. He knew what he was doing with certainty. She helped him out, squeezing her own breasts, spreading her legs and moving in positions that made his eyes bulge.

"Damn, Victoire, Victoire, I fucking love you… I really bloody love you!" he said when he came, spurting all over his hand. Watching his face, her name on his lips, she was wet again, wanting him. She sighed, moving down with her hand to help herself out.

"Let me, I can do that," he said as she started to touch her own self.

He proceeded to them pleasure her with his hands and mouth until she too had achieved a second wave of release. If she had known that human bodies were capable of what they both went through this evening, she would have been experimenting long before.

She brushed her hair carefully, letting the waves spill over her shoulders. The light blonde reflected the light , gleaming after the spell she cast to dry it. Teddy walked up behind her, freshly showered in just his boxers. He wrapped his arms around her gently, kissing her neck.

"I love you, Vic," he said. She looked at the mirror across from them. She reached up to brush her fingers through his hair, which changed to bright pink when she touched it, then to purple.

She laughed. "I love you too, Teddy." He smiled at her in the mirror, his eyes identical to hers, perfect Vic green.

"I love everything about you," he said, hugging her close. She listened to him breathe in her scent, and his hair changed to turquoise.

"I will never leave you again," he said. "Not for the rest of my life. There is nothing that I want more than you, than to be with you forever. I never want you out of my sight for anything more than ten hours again. Does that sound all right with you?"

"I think that sounds all right," she said, turning around to hug him and kiss his bare chest.

"Good,' he said. "Because you are everything to me, Victoire. Everything."

_**A/N Part II: Please review? **_


	19. Chapter 19

_**A/N: I posted half of this chapter before. This is both parts now. Sorry for the big break. I will try to be more regular, but I have a busy couple of months ahead of me before the summer. But enjoy, please. **_

Chapter 19,

Teddy looked at the clock dominating the skyline of the square, his heart beating in his chest. He waited patiently, wand clenched in his hand. The fountain in the middle of the square bubbled, full of life. Dusk had long since settled and night floated in, spreading its inky, misty fingers through London.

A thud caused him to turn in a quick circle, wand at the ready. To his right, a leaping tabby cat jumped from the top of a dustbin outside of a restaurant springing to the cobblestones and darting into an alley. Teddy sighed, starting to pace.

He looked like a Muggle. His jeans hung low like a uni kid, baggy and loose, a popular muggle rock band shirt, worn and black, hugged his chest. In truth, he looked like an older university student up to no good at three in the morning.

The population of the world was asleep. The square was silent save for the fountain. Street lamps permeated the blue hue of the night with yellowed light. The streets were lined with a thin layer of dirt and dried leaves that crunched under foot, unless you were a trained auror and moved with stealth and silence. Unless you were Teddy.

He sat on the edge of the fountain, drawing a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it with a muggle lighter. Despite the thin wand in his hand, he mostly was attempting to maintain a pretense. He wanted to be a muggle, a deadbeat muggle.

He did not look like the Teddy his friends and family would recognize. His hair was blonde and scraggly, the sandy color mirrored in the stubble on his face. His eyes were gray blue, narrow, and his face more round, nose longer. He was scrawnier than usually, shorter, but he looked like a muggle. No one would recognize him. No one would say to his family, or to Vic "I saw Teddy at three o'clock in the morning in the middle of a square in London."

The fountain smelled stale. The sides of it were coated with green life, and a tiling of coins glittered in the yellow light of the nearest lamppost. He sighed gently and splashed his hand through the water. This entire square was a little far from cleanly. It was not, perhaps, the neighborhood it once was, back when the fountain was new and parents felt their children were safe when they played in the street. Now it was dark all day, and the restaurants emitted grease and attracted scum, while the stores bolted their doors and locked up their cigarettes. The fountain ran green and the families with children moved far away.

A gust of summer wind, layered thick with the scents of grease and stagnant water, ruffled his hair. It brought with it a figure, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, despite the balmy night. He crossed the street, bounding across the deserted asphalt with long strides of long legs. He walked directly at Teddy, facing forward, staring ahead, facei n shadow from the hood he wore up.

He stopped next to Teddy, not looking at him, but down into the water of the fountain. Flicking a coin, Teddy recognized a bronze knut as it flipped through the air from the man's hands, landing with a shockingly loud plink in the water. Even without seeing his face, Teddy could see the smile that reflected the pale light as a perfect muted white.

"The look suits you, Lupin," he said.

"I can't say the same for you," Teddy replied, stubbing his unsmoked cigarette out on the edge of the fountain, on the spotted, weathered stone.

The man laughed, pulling a small pouch out of the singular pocket of his sweatshirt. He undid the ties carefully, drawstrings falling limply on his hands.

"Between me and you, Lupin," he said, laughing throatily. Teddy nodded, holding out his hand to accept the small, folded square of new parchment. He put it gently into Teddy's hand, and the metamorphmagus closed his fist around the paper, tucking it into the pocket of his too-big jeans.

"Good man, Lupin," the other rasped. His voice was throaty and low, and he sounded like he had a bad sore throat.

"Thank you," Teddy said politely, the manners Andromeda had installed in him from a young age shining through despite the austere nature of this meeting.

The man laughed. "My pleasure little wolf."

Teddy glared harshly, rising from where he stood. Reaching to shake his hand, the man's hood fell back, revealing the same face, staring cold eyes, that he had known since his days of Hogwarts. He nodded and shook the dense hands, turning and walking across the street, leaving the man by the fountain. Perhaps turning his back was never the smart idea. And yet, he had to be the one to leave last.

Taking a step up onto the curb, he chanced a look over his shoulder. A single tabby cat danced across the edge of the fountain, but the man was gone. Teddy turned a corner and leaned against the brick wall of a building, in another alley. He unfolded the piece of parchment, knowing easily that not even Vic or Harry needed to hear of this meeting.

-CD-

Vic sighed gently to herself, rolling over in the bed. Her arm hit empty space, cold sheets. A lack of Teddy. She pulled herself upright, looking around the dark room. Footsteps in the front room caught her attention. She reached for her wand, sliding one foot to the floor. She was just wearing a big t-shirt, but she didn't want to waste time changing into shorts.

She pushed the door open to the main room, wand held in front of her. All the lights were on, and Teddy was just closing the front door behind him.

"Teddy!" she said. "Damn it!"

"Love!" he said, turning. "What are you doing?"

"It's four in the bloody morning!" she said. "What are _you _doing?"

"I couldn't sleep," he said.

"You're dressed like a muggle slacker," she commented, gesturing at his band t-shirt and scruffy jeans.

"I just threw whatever on," he said, shrugging.

"Come here," she said, holding her arms out. "You do a good job terrifying me. I hate it when you leave."

He walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her. He brushed his hands through her hair.

"I'll never leave you," he promised, kissing her forehead. "Love you, Vic. I do."

"I know," she said, burying her nose against his t-shirt. "I love you."

"Come on," he said. "Bed. Bed."

"You should wake me up when you can't sleep," she said. "I'll stay up with you. We can play exploding snap and eat food that's bad for us. Or find other ways to waste our time."

He pulled his shirt over his head as they entered the other room.

"I'll bear that in mind, next time," he said, smiling at her as she climbed back into bed.

He dropped onto their bed, taking his side and reaching out to her. She drifted closer, and he put his hand on her waist.

"I still can't sleep," he said.

"You haven't even tried yet," she pointed out, sliding her hand up his arm to touch his chest.

"I know I can't," he said, shifting closer to her and rolling onto her back. He smiled at the ceiling.

"Why not?" she wondered, spreading her hand out on his chest. She kissed his shoulder gently.

"You're so beautiful. It's distracting," he said.

"You didn't answer my question, Teddy," she accused.

"Didn't I? he said, leaning over and kissing her on the lips.

"Go to sleep," she said, pushing him away from her.

"Are you mad?" he wondered sheepishly.

"Yes," she said.

"Why?" he said, sitting up and looking down at her. "Just a moment ago you were very… well, lovely to me."

"Yes," she said. "Because I was worried about you and happy to see you. And then the worry decided when I realized you sort of just walked out for no reason."

"Walked out?" he said. "You make it sound like we have a fight and then I just left."

"No," she said. "I mean walked out. You just left the apartment. Without telling me where you were going. Where did you go?"

"I went for a walk," he said. "Do you want to know the exact coordinates?"

"No need to get snappy," she informed him, giving him a Victoire death glare.

"Vic, what… what is wrong with you?" he wondered.

"I don't know," she said. "I just don't get you sometimes, Teddy. Sometimes I feel like you've written this entire novel, and all I get to read is the back cover."

"What do you mean?" he asked, pulling her legs into his lap. "Please don't' kick me."

"I'm not going to kick you," she said, rolling her eyes. "What I mean is that you're not being truthful. Well… not so much truthful as selective about what you tell me. Or at least I feel like it."

"Vic…" he said.

"I feel like you don't trust me. Or you don't want to tell me some stuff. And I don't get it," she said.

"I trust you, Vic," he said. "With my life. Really. I promise. I love you so much."

"But you're editing," she accused.

He shook his head, pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. "Vic…"

"Teddy…" she said, unwillingly sliding her arms around his neck. "Ugh…"

"Trust me, Vic," he whispered against her neck, causing her to shiver. She turned into putty for him, easily. He knew she was his, unconditionally, and he knew she wasn't going anywhere. And she hated that he knew these things. It gave her no power in a fight.

"Don't leave again," she said gently, sliding her fingers into his hair. "Okay? Or at least, don't leave without telling me. Can you do that?"

He nodded against her neck, kissing the skin. "Yes, I can do that. For you. You're lucky I love you so much, or else I might not be so willing."

She shook her head. "We really ought to sleep, Teddy."

"Why? It's the weekend tomorrow. We can just relax and be happy," he said, and sleep in in the sun.

The cat jumped up and squished himself in between their bodies.

"And spoil Toby here," he said, shrugging.

"Of course," she said, scratching the cat behind his ears. Once he was purring, Vic pulled Teddy back so that they were both lying down, with her wrapped tightly in his arms.

"I love you," he told her.

"I know," she said.

"Well don't forget it," he said sternly meeting her gaze with his. She smiled gently, finding it impossible not to. She reached out and kissed him carefully.

"I'll try not to," she said, pressing her cheek against his chest. "I love you too… by the way."

"By the way," he said, rubbing her back and kissing her hair.


End file.
